America in reverse

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Economy | Photo 16

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uploaded by YankeeJim

Time to clean house

How bad is it? Is it like 1979 when America momentarily defaulted and took administrative actions to recover, or is this time worse?

I say, much worse. This is the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression. America’s defaulting could plunge the US and world from a deep recession to depression in a heartbeat.

America’s government is so broken dual survivalists, Cody and Dave, aka Obama and Boehner must pull out all stops. If the fire goes out in the downpour of debt, it will take more than rubbing sticks together to spark anew.

Thinking back in my lifetime and answering the question, “am I better off than parents?” the answer is a resounding no.

The small village where I grew up in Ohio featured a sign reading “the Union Department Store, Morrow County’s only department store!” The town square was busy with restaurants and other shops and businesses in the post WWII era.

We moved to the city of Columbus in the late 1950’s as the aerospace business was booming there. My Dad was an aerospace engineer and with a few exceptions, the business accelerated through the 1980s.

In the 1970’s, F & R Lazarus was one big department store located downtown with The Union and other department stores. Downtown was prosperous and growing, as the city expanded to the suburbs. We moved to a new home to keep up and I attended a brand new high school. A new shopping center was built in the neighborhood called Northland. It was in addition to Northern Lights, a large strip center already there.

I had a job at the new mall while in high school and that is where I met my wife.

We attended The Ohio State University that hosted 50,000 students. In addition to aerospace manufacturing we had new high technology business locating and expanding in the community including the Bell System National Training Center where I worked while finishing college.

Today, the Northland Mall is bulldozed. F & R Lazarus, a business operating there for over 100 years is closed. Big Bear grocers are closed. Downtown is closed. The aerospace plant (Boeing) that was located at the airport since WWII is closed. The new neighborhood where I lived in school days has deteriorated from one of the best to one of the worst. The Bell System National Training Center is long since bulldozed as there is no “Bell System.”

My little farm village, Mt. Gilead Ohio is in poverty and the department store is long gone.

The prospect of my seeing economic recovery in my lifetime is diminished, though that will not prevent me from trying to assist in the effort to renew manufacturing America. It is a long term proposition even when and if the lights go on in Washington DC. It is time to clean house.