As the area and the country heads towards the end of what most believe will be a lackluster Christmas season, the topic of conversation over coffee most mornings is — of course — the economy.
Most tell me they are following the national trend of cutting way back on Christmas spending this year. No big-ticket items, a shorter list of those who receive gifts, no credit card spending sprees. The plan is to hold on to what little is left and hope things turn around sometime next year.
Even the weather is depressed. Rain drenches Southwestern Virginia today in what has been, for the most part, a cloudy, sunless December of cold, damp days and freezing nights.
Joy to the World is hard to find in this holiday season.
Most that I talk to around the breakfast table at Blue Ridge Restaurant are split on financial bailouts by the federal government. Some feel Congress should bail out the auto companies but not the banks. Others say the banks are more important than the cars. Still others say both should have been allowed to fail.
One needs only to drive around the area to see what the economic depression hath wrought: Glassners Jewelry in Roanoke is closing its doors. T-Bone Jacks on Electric Road in Roanoke County closed without warning. Going out of business signs compete with Christmas decorations at malls and along shopping strips.
Lemons Jewelry in Floyd gave up the ghost before the holiday season. Vernon Baker is retiring and Harris & Baker Furniture will disappear into history after the holidays. Close to a thousand residents of the region have lost their jobs since October.
Record numbers of companies will go bankrupt next year with 200,000 insolvencies in Europe alone and “an explosion” of failed businesses in the US, according to the world’s largest credit insurer.
The US will see 62,000 companies go bust next year, compared with 42,000 this year and 28,000 last year, says a report by Euler Hermes, part of German insurer Allianz.
As I talk with business owners in and around Floyd, I wonder how many of those 62,000 companies will be located here or nearby.
and want to know WHY each of those who voted not to have the Humane Society VOLUNTEER at the Pound voted as they did. These are good people who only want to help at no cost to the county (though it will cost the HS $800 in additional insurance). What possible reasons could these people have? With the economy in such a terrible state, I would think no one is in a position to turn down extra (and FREE) help. I’m deeply ashamed of those who voted against this and very grateful to those who voted for it. I guess we don’t need to ask where the Grinch is living these days.
I am probably not alone in having thought this proposal would be approved, and hence I didn’t lobby our supervisor.
Common sense has grown scarce, I read the comments at Floyd County Political News, and was truly shocked at the anonymous condemnations of people who’s transparent goal is to contribute their time to care for lost or unwanted pets. I don’t think it is to strong to suggest that the supervisors that have voted against the proposal have lead their support to these counter intuitive allegations. Perhaps they have other concerns than were stated in the Floyd Press?
It is not unreasonable to assume these political decisions may shift with the introduction of more people’s voices.
The idea that the County is better off hiring another employee (cost?), than the alternative of expanding insurance coverage ($800)to enable volunteer effort, flies in the face of wisdom.
Contact your Supervisor, or the the County administrators office, ’tis the season to care about the less fortunate, and bring out the best in people.