Shoes and The Current State of the Economy
John S. Bis

It was raining. I went into the house and started switching from my wet shoes into my house slippers. As I looked down at the slippers I realized that the store I bought them, and these are Hush Puppies" not designer items, is gone. They were purchased from a suburban store on Sheridan Drive. That particular store was a surviving branch of the original parent store in downtown Buffalo. That store is gone too. Then I realized the pair of shoes I was removing were Dexter Walkmocs". The Dexter store on Niagara Falls Boulevard is also gone.

I don’t know if I’m like a lot of people. I don’t have many pairs of shoes. I have two pairs of sneakers, I guess I’d call them fancy gym shoes. I have three pairs of regular shoes, and a pair of black dress shoes. Oh, I also have a pair of work boots that replaced my old army boots after they wore out. The gym shoes are from a big, sporting goods store that is still in business. The work boots are from one of these discount places whose name I can’t remember, and whose location has changed. And the dress shoes, boy, those I’ve had for years. They probably came up with me from Maryland, many years ago. That store may be gone by now too.

If the politicians in Washington are counting on me spending the way toward a recovery for the current recession, good luck. I mean, how many shoes does one need to cover two feet? A look at the survival rate of retail shoe stores should give you some indication of the problem. I, and my fellow citizens are not spending a lot of money these days. Do you know why? For years and years we’ve been told to save. We’ve been told American’s don’t save enough. We should save for our child’s college education. The Social Security system is at risk. We must individually save for our retirement. We’ve been told the environment is at risk, we have to use less energy. Think savings! Reuse, recycle! Well, the savings have come home to roost! And that is good for the country, right?

That’s the way I felt until a short time ago. Now I’m very confused. Most recently I’m being told that we, the American people, want the federal government to spend. I’m saving and Washington is spending? We the American people want the federal government to spend billions of dollars? Huh? Senator Schumer says so! Although the Senator is not alone in this spending urge, I can certainly use him as an example. That’s because I’m from New York and I get the brunt of his television sound bites. The senator says, I’m doing this because the American people . . . What arrogance! The good senator did not get 100% of the votes even from the people of his own state, a state now in third place in population. And here he is speaking for the American people.

Spending billions of taxpayer dollars may not be the solution to current economic problems. Many Americans, economists among them, believe the government should let the economy be the economy, and not confuse politics for economics. The government should be reducing its spending, not grossly expanding it.

Differing points of view and only time will judge the correct response. But meanwhile Senator, please be honest, don’t proclaim to speak for all the American people. You certainly don’t. And please remember that debate and disagreement are a hall mark of our democracy, not self proclaimed truisms.

In my opinion Senator, if you want to spend money to help the economy, spend your own, and buy another pair of shoes.

Published in Lewiston/Porter Sentinel 4/4/2009