So the economy is bottoming out. We’ve finally discovered as a nation (I hope) that an economic plan consisting of

• Buying cheap plastic junk from China
• Driving the most inefficient vehicles ever designed by man
• Taking out loans for things we know we can’t afford
• Fueling our entire transportation system with a substance whose price is controlled by a tiny group of people who don’t like us very much
• Letting our government spend money without telling us what it’s buying (Halliburton, anyone?)

is not exactly a plan for success. Excellent. Now we can start rebuilding from the ground up, right? I have a simple plan, and there are two sides to it:
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OHMYGOD WE’RE ALL FINANCIALLY SCREWED! Or, um, maybe not. All that’s happened is our money on paper has grown so far beyond our money in actual value that the economy suddenly realized we’re living in a mansion made of credit cards. How can we as American taxpayers¹ help solve this problem?

Remember all those terrorist-loving liberals that told you not to ship jobs overseas, to buy American goods, and to find domestic energy sources? They were right. That is what will save us. Our economy is not built around lending houses to each other, it’s built around items and services of actual value. If we’re not selling American-made goods and services, we have no money.

And as my friend Chris Penn points out, if we’re borrowing money for things we can’t really afford, we make the problem worse. Our personal economies dictate our national economy and we must live within our means. Believe me, I could’ve qualified for a loan at my old day job, but I knew I couldn’t really afford a house. I didn’t yet (and still don’t) have the value in my own pocket to back up the value of a house.

Of course, I should mention that American musicians sell their American-made wares both at home and abroad via the internet and international touring. You already knew that, though.

The important thing here is to realize that the solution to our problem will not come from some complex economic magic. The problem will be solved when we as consumers start making and buying products of value right here in America.

¹This is not meant to diminish the contributions and financial woes of my friends in other nations. My point is that we as Americans seem to have forgotten that in a capitalist economy, national or global, we have to be selling as much as we’re consuming if the balance sheet is going to even out in the end.

I recently shared a bit of anxiety with a good friend of mine who’s self-employed like me (heck, as musicians most of my friends are self-employed). As fun as being a “rock star” is, there’s always that nagging worry at the end of the day about paying bills. And that’s during the good times.

This friend confides that he’s as worried as I am about the coming economic upheaval, though he carries a much prettier game face than I do. Sometimes I wonder if that’s really all that’s necessary in times like this; if carrying a flashlight in the dark can help you find the light you’re looking for.

Obviously by posting this I’m letting you look behind my game face to see the concerned businessman underneath, but I suspect there are a lot of you who are in my shoes- indie musicians, small marketing firms, freelance designers, etc.

So I’ll make you a deal: I’ll try to remind you why you got into business doing what you love (and try to send some business your way) if you do the same for me. Maybe with enough flashlights out there we won’t see the dark anymore.