Keep the stimulus here: Shop locally

Wed, May 14, 2008    to del.icio.us

From The Holland Sentinel

The first checks are in the mail, or in cyberspace, or wherever it is that electronic deposits travel checks of $600, $1,200 or more to taxpayers from the federal government as part of Washington's effort to stimulate a flagging national economy.

The payments will continue through July, and by the time they've all been made, the federal government will have disbursed $110 billion.

The idea, of course, is that you, the consumer, will spend the extra money and keep a national recession at bay.

Of course, we've been in recession in Michigan for a while now, and we sure can use the stimulus. Unfortunately, rising food and energy prices and the debt crisis mean many Americans aren't in a position to engage in any new discretionary spending — they will spend the stimulus checks on necessities or use them to pay down debt.

Even families with more flexibility may choose to salt the money away in savings in light of the uncertainty surrounding the economy.

But if you are fortunate enough to be in a position to make some discretionary purchases, we respectfully urge you to consider spending your stimulus check with a local retailer or service business.

Shopping locally, whether it be with a locally based independent retailer or with a national chain with outlets here, means re-circulating money in the community seven to 10 times for each dollar by some estimates and building up our economy here at home. We certainly need that.

There are great deals on the Internet, to be sure, and plenty of fine stores in Grandville and Grand Rapids ready to take your money. However, those businesses aren't employing local workers, paying local property taxes and supporting local charities.

Shopping at local stores means supporting not only the retailers themselves, but also the area suppliers they buy from and the local service providers they employ.

Who knows, some of that money may come back to you.

There's so much choice in the local retail environment superstores, "big box" discounters, mom-and-pop retailers and one-of-a-kind boutiques that there's really no need to go anywhere else. We know we need the economic stimulus here.

When you get your stimulus check, stop and think for a moment about where you want that stimulus to go.