Photo by be_khe

As the other good book says, don’t panic. To put things in perspective, the big flu epidemic of the 1800′s killed millions but so far we’ve seen less than 100 deaths in this country. More people died in the last 24 hours from car accidents than from the last week of swine flu.

Back then we also didn’t have Purell, antivirals, and clean public restrooms with hot water and soap at every Starbucks (every 10 feet). If you’re unlucky enough to live in a town with no Starbucks or some other dense concentration of sink/soap dispensation units… congratulations, you live in a town small enough that you probably won’t even see the next pandemic.

That being said, I know this kind of thing can be dangerous. I’m glad that most of my work is done at home- far away from densely-packed subways and cramped cubicle farms. I shake a lot of hands at gigs, but I don’t see nearly the exposure that your average commuter sees.

So while this post has nothing to do with music, I just want to wish you all well and offer two pieces of advice: don’t go nuts, but wash your hands.

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.

Forget bullets, I was sweating hand grenades.

Here’s The Video Proof

All in all, Butler was really cool, as were my parents. I think this interview is priceless, even if he misspelled my name. =)

[tags]Matthew Ebel, Piano Rock, Podcast and New Media Expo, PNME, PME, panic[/tags]