Happy New Year and good luck

At least there is no election. We get a year off between the presidential election and the next state elections. We need it. The 2008 presidential campaign is the ugliest and most annoying ever, a record it will hold for about four years.

The new year starts with a bad economy that most people expect to get worse before it gets better. Failed financial institutions, companies headed to bankruptcy or just closing and mortgage foreclosures in record numbers are considered likely. Where’s the fun in that?

My New Year’s resolution is to try not to let my attitude be dictated by the economy. This is a challenge as I am prone toward pessimism about the economy; if it’s going good, I tend to think it will soon crash, and if it’s crashing, I look for the Great Depression II.

An economic collapse is an enthralling phenomenon from a spectator’s viewpoint — like a tsunami or a terrorist attack — because its effects are unpredictable and can be spectacular. One can only imagine the effect on the U.S. economy, for example, if the Big Three automakers were to collapse or if the government failed to intervene to rescue the banks. Fascinating theater has its merits, but not for the people and businesses in the midst of the meltdown, where jobs, even lives, can be lost.

Managing the economy is above my pay grade. Like most people, I have opinions, but they relate to the specifics of fiscal stewardship rather than to extricating the nation from its slump. My job is to hang on for the ride.

Life will not stop while the economy adjusts. There will be births and deaths, weddings and funerals. We’ll plant our spring gardens (maybe a little heavier on the veggies), celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and experience the usual victories and disappointments. There will be surprises, both good and bad, whatever happens to the stock market.

In the end, most of us will remember 2009 just like we will 2008, not for money lost from our investment accounts, but for the births, deaths, weddings and other important — but not necessarily Page 1 newsworthy — events that comprise life. But we start 2009 with a clean slate. It’s a chance to make a fresh start, to do things right, to correct old wrongs, make new friends and enjoy the old ones. The economy will do what the economy will do.

Just hang in there and it too will pass.

Happy New Year, and good luck.

Mark Beardsley is editor of The Commerce News. He can be reached at Mark@mainstreetnews.com