Bluestone Development Systems

News broadcast are heavy into describing the misery in the local economy.  Often their major story hinges on bad news that has fallen on local and national businesses.  Plants are closing, people are losing their jobs, cities are out of money, and budgets are under water.

Maybe they need to report what sells.  And misery loves company.

Some folks suggest that we simply not watch the news or read the papers.  Others suggest that we should ignore or deny the economic storm that’s going on.  Some announce that they are refusing to participate in the recession.

How real is that?  Business cycle recessionary periods are not new.  The US economy has weathered ten (10) recessions since the end of WW11.

Do you get tired of all the negative stories about the economy?  Want to find a source to keep you informed and better prepared for your business planning?

Dr. Michael B. Lehmann researches and writes about the business cycle and current economic events.  Lehmann regularly updates his blog, “Be Your Own Economist (R)”. 

He offers an easy method for getting the data behind the events and a little of his perspective on the significance of the data.  Currently, the picture is not so rosy, but it’s real.

If you visit his blog, you will notice that he also maintains a web site which includes a convenient list of key economic indicator data links.  The blog and web site provide charts that illustrate the history of the US economy going back to 1945.

If this sort of thing is interesting to you, you might want to look over Lehmann’s book.  It’s available at local book stores.

One could use his book in conjunction with the internet data sources to stay attuned to economic indicators and outlook for the rest of 2009.  Remember, this thing won’t last forever…Look on the sunny side.

David Goldman, CNN Money.com staff writer, has posted an excellent article highlighting a long standing argument. Does it make sense to buy local or is it better for the economy to buy from the low cost producer?

Goldman’s article, “‘Buy American’-Sparks fly’ A stimulus provision that bans the purchase of foreign construction materials for public works projects gets jeers from economist and European trade interests.”, presents both sides of the argument.

Here are a few highlights:

• “The Buy American provision will stimulate our own economy,” Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who wrote the provision, told CNN Money. “When tax payer dollars are used, we should urge that money to support the things produced here at home.”
• “It’s not a good time to initiate protectionist measures in any shape or form,” said Kurt Karl, head of economic research at Swiss Re. “It hurts growth because if you force one side to go with domestic production, only, then that precludes them from getting less expensive materials from overseas.”

Kurt Karl presents the economist’s viewpoint. Karl has extensive professional experience  and training to back-up his position. But old fashioned common sense might tell us that it’s better to buy locally produced products.

There is no doubt that this is both a technically complex and emotionally charged issue. The economy is a complex system. It seems obvious that consumers often make decisions based more on emotions than logic. But in this case, we are not talking about consumer decision making processes.

What do you think? Should the “Buy American” provision be passed, or are the economist correct that the provision will cause us even greater troubles?