Welcome to the Humpty-Dumpty Era!

Wanna know why things don’t seem to be recovering?

“…all the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.”

Let’s characterize Humpty as the entire US economy. Right know we have anyone and everyone who want their money back trying to put things back the way they were. And it ain’t gonna happen. We need to find other ways to make a buck than the ways we’ve become used to.

Looking back at how we all made our livings, over say the last 20 years, may make us pine. But if we pick up a rock or two we find that the source of our good times should never have existed.

But wait…all the money that was loaned to borderline borrowers, all the money that was loaned to developers because there were so many borrowers demanding houses, all the money that developers reinvested in more ground to build more homes, all went somewhere. Money doesn’t just disappear.

And where did it go? It went into your pocket and mine. Sure, there are anecdotal stories about obscene accumulations by some individuals, but the trillions of dollars that were lost on unpaid mortgages, went into the pockets of every carpenter who built a house that would never have been built were it not for a subprime mortgage. And not just the carpenter, everyone of us who prospered during those good years. That’s where all the money went.

And, unless someone can figure out how to re-create that revenue engine HONESTLY, things will never go back to that “normal”. Which means things will never go back. Period.

From a micro-business perspective this presents an ironic opportunity. While those big companies are drowning in the inability to shed overhead quick enough to survive, we, who have always had to survive, are in better shape than the big guys. Psychologically, anyway.

Let’s characterize Humpty as our bigger competition. It’s almost like he made his bed and now he has to sleep in it. He plundered the same communities that are now a drag on down-sizing, National chains are in swift retreat.

Micro-businesses and communities need to mobilize. Re-building communities is the name of the game. Unfortunately, part of the reason we can do such a thing is that the big guys don’t see much profit in small communities anymore. You know, with the recession and all.

So let me throw out a challenge to local communities:

1) Through Rotary or Kiwanis or Lion’s or whatever you’ve got, get aggressive with convening all of your local businesses and real estate interests. Take inventory of who and what you are. Decide how you can rebuild your community. If YOU don’t do it it will never be done.
2) Find out how many people are unemployed/underemployed in your area. You need to get these people back to work buying in your community. There are always some who prefer to remain idle, but you may be surprised at the human resources available in your neighborhoods. Oh and by the way, if your community isn’t big enough join with another community and create a joint shopping plan.
3) Urge your economic developers at the county level to pay some attention to what you’re trying to do and give you a hand in making it a success, The entire economic strength of your region will have to come from the sum of the strength of the local communities.

Humpty the employer/competitor is gone. Humpty the American economy is in a million pieces. At some point all the kings horses and all the kings men will realize that their effort is futile.

Micro-business has always been admired for its flexibility and its ability to turn on a dime. Let’s start turning.

BTW: If you’d like some assistance with re-structuring your community, contact The Sacks Group. Our programs may be of some interest to you.

rjs