Moderate, But Don't Stop!

Economics are in the news every day now. The news had been bad, and negative speculation has been worse. I read about a long list of companies announcing layoffs today. Clearly, several markets were in need of a reset after hot growth and loose money. But don't stop buying everything!

I was talking with a group of people recently and everyone was looking for ways to cut all spending dramatically. I know lots of people who genuinely need to cut back and "restructure" personal budgets because of job loss or too much debt. I also know several of the people I was talking with have no current need to cut back extensively--they were doing so out of fear of potential future economic deterioration. Hold on! If everyone suddenly stops buying, doesn't that guarantee that things will get much worse?

I'm not an economist and I don't believe we need to grow GDP at huge rates to have a healthy economy. I believe there are genuine environmental and human rights benefits to consider what a purchase means rather than spend indiscriminately. But if you have the means to buy, please don't run for the hills and hide your money in a cave. I suppose panic is a natural consequence of a downturn, but the reinforcing loop of despair seems pretty obvious. We're in a downturn, why exacerbate it? I would prefer to live with measured confidence, not fear.

Tree Hunting

We went up the the Mt. Hood National Forest today to hunt for a Christmas tree. We got our permit from the ranger station and headed up some soggy logging roads off the Clackamas River.

What a hoot! We hiked cross country until we found our little tree a ways up the hill. Good thing it was an easy carry because in some ways getting down a muddy hillside is a lot harder than climbing it.

I think it was a good experience for the kids to get to the source rather than just buy a tree from a local city lot. Stepping in deer pellets and checking out wild mushrooms was more fun than it might sound.

Flight Mysteries

I travel a lot, mostly on business. While there are a lot of air travel pains and delays can be awful, in my experience most of the time the airline staff is doing its best to get me to my destination safely and on-time. Still, I can't resist sharing a few air travel observations that made me think twice.

#1 Cup O' Germs
On long flights with drink service refills (which I am grateful for) I've noticed that flight attendants nearly always pick up cups by the rim--mine and everyone else's! My lips touch that same rim every time I drink. People worry about the recycled air on flights, but what about the fingers of the attendant who touched every cup on the plane? Yuck.

#2 Food That Tastes Good
I recently flew Alaska Airlines from Dallas to Portland. I was in coach and it was a full flight. But it was a good experience, partly because I was hungry and they served a tasty little burger for lunch for just $5. The airline made a couple bucks, and I really enjoyed the meal. So why can't more flights and airlines offer TASTY food at a reasonable price? It seemed like a win/win for everyone.

#3 What Bag Limit?
I've flown several airlines that seem oblivious to carry on bag numbers and sizes. Airlines seem to turn a blind eye to 3 or more items and bag sizes that will take an entire overhead bin. Then about 75 percent through the boarding process, overhead bins are full and passengers are running up and down the aisle looking for a place to stash a bag. If you're late to board, then you're bag is getting checked no matter what. That doesn't seem fair to me, and I think it slows the boarding process. So why not enforce the carry-on bag quantity and size limits? Boarding would move faster and there would be less stress because more passengers would find adequate luggage space.