Pete Campos
The key to overcoming the recession’s effects of the past two and a half years is to regain confidence in our economy and in ourselves as a resilient society.
We often measure our success by our ability to hold a job that allows us to meet our financial obligations of paying the rent or mortgage on our homes, paying our personal income and property taxes, making our car payments, paying our monthly utility bills and buying food and medicine for our families.
When we’re confident that we’ll have a job and are able to meet our personal financial obligations, then we have the tendency to pay for life’s “extras,” to go out to eat on a Friday night, travel to visit loved ones, purchase a few more groceries and put a few more dollars in the Sunday collection.
While all this sounds easy, it isn’t! The economy of the last few years reminds us how dependent we are upon our jobs for our basic existence, just as the recent cold snap reminded us how dependent we are on utility companies.
That being said, we know it will take some time for our economy to become stronger, the unemployment rate to drop and new economic strategies to be established.
Some suggestions
We are resilient, innovative and resourceful. Aristotle said, “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than mere survival.” So, what do we do next? Here are some suggestions:
- Talk with family members about what it will take to meet essential expenses and maintain a lifestyle that focuses on family health.
- Enjoy the little things like a Saturday morning breakfast together or a Sunday church service.
- Develop a strategy to pay off debt and change spending habits that lead to high credit card balances.
- Continue to support in-state businesses, because while Internet purchases are convenient, the state generally does not collect gross receipts taxes, which help pay for essential state and community services, from those sellers.
Seeing things through a different lens
As we figure out how to make adjustments in our lives, we begin to see things through a different lens. We eliminate what we don’t need, think twice before buying things impulsively, and work toward increasing our savings. When we do this, consumer confidence improves, the business sector adjusts to more stable market demands, inflation stabilizes and wise personal and business decisions and investments are made.
We can better plan for such things as our children’s education, how we are going to care for our parents during the time they need us the most, and our own retirement. All of this helps to minimize the stress we have created within our lives, leads to a more stable economy, a healthier community and most importantly, brings back a much simpler way of life for our families.
New Mexico is poised to move in this direction, but it is going to take all of us working together, listening to those who understand this concept and maintaining an optimistic view of things around us. After all, it is our good health and wise management of our personal situations that will determine our destiny as families and a state.
Campos is a Democratic state senator from Las Vegas and president of Luna Community College.