“Sign of Our Times”

An Assortment of Subjects and Perceptions


This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


Economic Perceptions from Trip To Branson, Missouri

After completing processing of last week’s paper, my wife Judy and I rushed out of town on our way to a five day trip to Branson with friends who live in Bremen, Georgia. It was part of our tribute to Judy’s ability to endure living with me for fifty years.
As we traveled those seemingly endless miles across six states, I could not avoid noticing the visible impact the prolonged and severe economic recession is having on communities across our nation. It is obvious many businesses and citizens are suffering.
Our first leg was to go due North up to Bremen, Georgia to join our friends. There are a total of twenty one buildings along that 240 mile route which once housed apparel/textile factories, and employed approximately 10,000 workers. They now sit with empty parking lots and un-kept grounds. Most of those jobs were women who were working to supplement their family income. When those jobs were traded away by our Federal Government during the 1990’s, most of those women eventually dropped out of the labor force, and are not included in the economic statistics we look at every month. However, the lost earnings are felt each month as those families struggle to pay their family household bills.
As we traveled along the interstates heading west, I noticed that approximately 30% of the billboards along the highways were vacant. Many had now been empty so long the stands themselves were in need of repair. These blank billboards stand as stark reminders of reduced advertising budgets, struggling businesses, and in some cases, businesses which no longer exist.
Also along the highways were vacant filling stations and mini-market buildings, with concrete forms which once held gasoline pumps. These represent thousands of lost small businesses and lost jobs which were all victims of the new EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations which took effect January 1, 2010. These new, rigorously enforced regulations required ALL stations to install the latest design of storage tanks, at an average cost of $250,000, even if the existing tanks were in good condition. In a few instances the ground may be cleaner around these new tanks, but in the process our nation lost thousands of businesses, ten of thousands of jobs, and millions of dollars in property was rendered unsalable. All at the arbitrary, unsupervised whelm of a federal bureaucratic agency.
Then we arrived in Memphis where Judy finally got to visit Graceland, and see the grave of her idol when she was a teenager, Elvis. I’ll have to admit, it was well done and I also enjoyed the tour.
The next day we crossed the flooded Mississippi River, crossed the flat, fertile delta land where farmers were busy planting this year’s corn crop, and finally began to climb into the foothills of the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.
The economy of the Ozark area has always been poor and depressed. However, it seemed even worse as we passed small communities with vacant industrial parks and decaying large buildings begging for a renter. Dead or dying shopping centers were commonplace…except for those few where a Wal Mart Supercenter was housed, ..they had full parking lots.
We topped one hill on the winding mountain highway to find both sides of the road lined with cars. After traveling a little further we came upon a small family farm where an auctioneer was busy selling the farmer’s possessions. I couldn’t help but feel a deep sadness as we passed the scene.
During the entire trip I saw two houses under construction, and no commercial buildings. However, it seemed that every city, county, and state was busy spending stimulus money building or improving roadways and sidewalks. It seemed more of the miles we traveled were classified as highway construction zones than not. Along the fringes of many of these construction zones, herds of policemen lurked, hoping to catch a negligent driver and enjoy the fruits of a doubled fine.
These roads and sidewalk projects are creating many jobs in every area. These jobs will probably last for many months, based on the speed at which most of them were working. However, what will happen to all of these workers when all of the sidewalks have been built??
We stopped for gas at one small Arkansas town. While there I couldn’t help but read the front page of the local newspaper which was displayed through a sales rack. “City Commission Refuses $50,000 Grant” was one story banner. This made me feel good, since it gave hope that some government groups around the country are putting the benefit of the greater good ahead of self serving local, unnecessary projects.
Finally we arrived in Branson, Missouri. We enjoyed three great shows and had a great time. Judy has a high school classmate named Jim Owen, who has been entertaining in Branson for eighteen years. His show was not scheduled to begin until two days after our departure, so we felt we would not get to visit with him. However, we happened to catch him during rehearsal, watched some of his upcoming show, and after they finished he came out and sat and talked with us. He said that the economy has had a disastrous impact on Branson.
He said that attendance is down by over 30%, and around forty shows have closed due to the slow business. “Branson was good to me for sixteen years”, Jim Owen stated, “but these last two years have been hell!” Most of the shows we went to had around five hundred attending, and the theaters would hold around two thousand people. It wasn’t hard to get a great seat.
There were two areas I saw during the trip where economic growth and activity seemed to be flourishing. The first was a huge transfer-loading terminal we passed in Memphis. A steady line of trucks moved under giant frames which were picking up shipping containers and placing them upon the truck beds for highway delivery. The containers were being offloaded from barges positioned in a canal, and moved to a truck. The barges were coming up the river from Louisiana terminals where they had been delivered from Asia via ocean freighters. These containers were full of the merchandise which had once been made in all of those now empty American factories. After being placed on a truck, the container was sped away to be delivered to an inland distribution center at some convenient location.
The only other economic “plus” I saw on the trip was the giant KIA assembly plant located on I-85 a few miles south of LaGrange Georgia, in Alabama. The huge buildings and parking lots full of worker’s automobiles were testaments to the jobs which existed there. The last time I traveled by that road, this plant did not exist. It helped make up for the large empty West Point Pepperill – Stephens plant which faced the expressway a few miles away.
So, it was a great trip…but it is always wonderful to get back to good ole Jackson County. After seeing many other areas of the country and going by other towns, I can honestly say that we seem to be doing better here than most others. I just pray we do not have a “double dip” recession, or things are worsened by some international calamity.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –
● (Always Say Something Nice) …I applaud the County Commissioners for making the decision to purchase the building now housing the Supervisor of Elections. This decision will result in savings for the county.
● In my opinion our Governor, Charlie Crist has demonstrated the fact that he is a professional politician who is only interested in self preservation, even if it requires violation of pledges and integrity. We must rid the nest of those who want to keep on “doing business as usual” in government. If we can accomplish that goal…we will be GETTING IT RIGHT.
“When life starts giving you lemons…..


It is time to stop and make a margarita!”

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.