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HARD TIMES
Little did I realize growing up that I was being prepared for
economic depression. All those stories my parents told seemed
quaint amid the post-war prosperity and the boom times of
the Kennedy era and beyond. My schoolteachers assured me,
too, that economic depression was a thing of the past, that
because of what we learned during the Great Depression, it
can't happen again. That knowledge gave me some relief when
my parents alarmed me with their tales of doing without.
The plot thickened when, after seeing movies and reading
books about the "Roaring '20s" that preceded the stock market
crash, I learned that the 70s didn't roar around here. The boll
weevil ate the '20s, throwing this area into economic depres
sion a decade before the rest of the country. The stock market
crash was nothing compared to the crash of the cotton crop.
So, those depression stories I heard came from 20 years of
hard times that hit my parents and their generation as they
grew to adulthood, began working and got married—-a step my
parents postponed for six years until they felt they were finan
cially stable enough to risk it.
The Bible has a lot to say about economic depression, too:
the seven fat years followed by the seven lean years, etc. If
you read your Bible,
If you read your Bible, y° u know v° u can,t take
prosperity for granted,
you know you can’t take and yet, of course,
. _ _ that's exactly what
prosperity for granted... we've done, we have .
lived with the expecta
tion that things would continue getting better, that housing
prices and stock prices would always rise.
Now, our generation is harshly reminded that the economy
is volatile and that it can do down as well as up. The govern
ment has stepped in and is trying to jumpstart the economy
that has failed in large part because of its leaders' disdain for
frugality and their assurances that there will be no more lean
years, that the lessons of human history don't count anymore.
Well, they do count, qnd we're human. While President
Obama tries to find the key to the resuscitation of the national
economy, we've got to figure out how to make it in the local
economy, while the devastation trickles down. My parents made
do with what they had. Their stories of the Depression had a
lot of humor in them, in spite of the hard times. We can hope
things won't get that bad for us, but however bad they get, we
need to remember that we didn't cause this one. It has come
upon us unexpectedly—like a hurricane or a drought—and
we've got to deal with it as creatively as we can, remembering
that people have always had to go through hard times, even if
we haven't up until now.
We've lived through eight years of political leadership that
sold the country on the notion that this shell-game economy
was sound and would continue getting better as long as we
kept government off its back and didn't tax the riches derived
from these rigged winnings.
The collapse of this Ponzi scheme brings widespread suf-'
fering, but we've all got to be better off if we come through it
with an economy based on reality rather than fantasy. Here's
hoping that the government can re-prime the pump, and that
when the economy starts working again it is more securely
based on the production of goods and services instead of spec
ulation and derivatives. Meanwhile, we've alt got to tend our
own gardens, buying locally from from our friends and neigh
bors whenever we can. Prosperity begins at home.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com
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THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS & FEATURES
City Dope 5
Athens News and Views
Spring Is on the way, and so are big issues like the rail-trail, the parking deck, the budget...
Everyday People 31
J.P. Watkins: Habitat Restore Manager
How does he know so much about everything in the warehouse, anyway?
ARTS <§s EVENTS - .
The Reader 7
Reagan Lives! (Sorta)
It’s the myth, not the man, that’s problematic. A new book explores it.
Film Notebook 12
News of Athens’ Cinema Scene
Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival hits Athens next week, Mar. 19-22 at The Classic Center.
(MUSS©
Yeah, He’s Got Ishues 15
A Journey from Jersey to the Stages of Zimbabwe
Local rapper Ishues recently became the first American hip-hop artist to perform in Zimbabwe.
Holly Golightly Goes South 17
The British Songstress Settles in Georgia
Aihens. say hello to our newest import!
LETTERS
CITY DOPE
CAPITOL IMPACT
CITY PAGES./
THE READER
ORT
GRAPHIC CONTENT...
MOVIE DOPE
MOVIE PICK
FILM NOTEBOOK
THREATS & PROMISES
RECORD REVIEWS .
ISHUES
UPSTART ROUNDUP
HOLLY GOLIGHTLY..
DON’T MISS
THE CALENDAR!...
BULLETIN BOARD..
ART AROUND TOWN
COMICS
REALITY CHECK...
CLASSIFIEDS
EVERYDAY PEOPLE.
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EDITOR & PUBUSHER Pete McCommons
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CONTRIBUTORS Jason Bugg, William Often Carlton, Tom Crawford, David Eduardo, Alan Flurry, Jennifer Gibson,
Michael J. Gerber, Jeff Gore, Chris Hassiotis, John Huie, Gordon Lamb, Charley Lee, Bao Le-Huu, Dave Marr,
John G. Nettles, Jeff Tobias, Drew Wheeler
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WEB DESIGNER Ian Rickert
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VOLUME 23
ISSUE NUMBER 10
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MARCH 11, 2009 • FLAGPOLE.COM
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