the economy

[Andrew Anderson]

I've sold more pianos this year than the last several years combined.   
I'm expecting to sell more before Christmas.  I'm getting more calls  
for piano service.  I never call customers because I'm too busy  
generally.  Economy is 90% a psychological phenomenon:

This current slow down did have some pre-cursors.  Clinton ran on  
racial integration especially in the financial sector and made good on  
his promise by sending out Justice Department Lawyers to threaten  
bankers that if they didn't improve on their balance of customers  
(racially) that they would be sued by the Justice Department with the  
deep pockets of the American people behind them.  Bankers are a  
cautious lot and when pushed they asked what could they do and they  
were given an outline.  Essentially they were to give loans to risky  
clients and develop certain types or risky products.  Democrats and  
Republicans that were close enough to the issue to understand the  
ramifications protested that this would result in a time bomb going  
off when those unqualified (not by race) clients couldn't make their  
payments.  They were viciously labeled as racists without regard to  
party by the Clinton machine.

The "rules" or psychological climate changed and risky banking  
products became the norm.  While we had good growth everything  
worked.  But, like it or not, taxes do drag on the economy and we had  
the Clinton tax-caused recession going into Bush's first term.  There  
were some economic measures taken in the form of tax cuts and stimulas  
in the form of a tax "refund".  This only delayed the inevitable as  
all those pigeons sent aloft (fundamentally bad loans) came back down  
to roost.

This brings us back to psychology.  We can let the talking heads  
convince us that things are terrible or we can explore the reality  
that real, cash, economy is local.  That larger debt-based economy is  
a house or cards that crashes and folds in fairly predictable cycles.   
It re-arranges itself and takes off again eventually piggy backing of  
the real cash economy you and I make in our every-day-lives.  It is  
going to be hard to get loans for a while.  So what.  A cash based  
lifestyle makes a lot more sense.  Need more money, go out there and  
make it.  Re-examine your "needs" too and pay bills in order of  
importance: food, housing, clothing and then everything else in its  
order.  Sometimes you have to look further and work harder but  
eventually there is something out there for someone willing to make it  
happen.

Never debase the value of the service you provide by attitude or by  
reduced service.  We do serve the people most able to pay in general.   
That should be a comfort.  Confidence on your part begets confidence  
on the part of your customer.

Andrew Anderson