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These Interesting Times

I guess the best thing you can say as the economic roller coaster we’ve been riding hurls us into a new year is that we are certainly living in interesting times.

Looking back on 2008, I think of “annus horribilis,” the phrase Queen Elizabeth II came up with to describe the year her two sons’ marriages fell apart and a section of Windsor Castle burned down. Translated literally, it means “terrifying year,” a description that captures the current sense of panic on Wall Street and the fear felt in every home and business in the country as the economy seems to be melting down around us.

Yet 2008 also gave us an exciting election that reinvigorated our democracy and culminates this month with the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama. On January 20 I fully expect to see dancing in the streets of King County, where 70% of the electorate voted for Obama.

What kind of highs and lows will the rest of 2009 bring? Hopefully, the new Obama administration will succeed in restoring people’s confidence not only in government, but in our economy. I am now painfully aware of how confidence fuels the great wheel of commerce. The slower it goes, the more cautious people become in their spending, which slows it even more, leading to people losing their jobs so they can’t buy anything… It makes you dizzy, but also aware that a recession can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Of course the problems in the economy are real and complex, but as Sue Ellingson suggests in “Resolutions for 2009,” sometimes we just need to turn off the radio and television. I decided to tune out for a while when I heard experts warning about deflation. Prices coming back down after having jumped up in the summer due to high oil prices is a bad thing?

One thing I do know is that locally, a freeze in spending is a huge threat to small businesses. We will eventually emerge from these hard economic times, but when we do we may find that our neighborhoods and small shopping districts look very different. Vowing to cut out all those morning lattés can be a great idea on an individual level, but if you and your neighbors have been buying them from a corner café, that café might not be there when you fall off your thrifty wagon.

To those whose spending cuts are related to fear rather than a loss of income, I propose that you spend carefully, but that you do spend. Call it the opposite of a boycott, a “girlcott” if you will. Avoid spending money on things you won’t use or don’t need, but support your local merchants as much as you can. Put your money where your house is, as they say.

If you value having an independent bookstore or toy shop in your neighborhood, be sure to support it. As Katie Tynan notes in her piece on great winter reads, when you spend $100 at a locally owned store, $68 stays in your community. Spend it at a national chain and your community only sees $43.

And don’t forget to support the wonderful women and businesses who advertise in this magazine. Their commitment to Seattle Woman allows us to publish information and resources that you might not find elsewhere. We look forward in 2009 to continue to work with them and to keep bringing you inspiring and empowering stories and profiles.

Have a good new year!

Marianne Scholl
Publisher and Co-founder

©January 2009 Caliope Publishing Company