The regular readers of Pies & Plates' e-zine "Food for Thought" know I like to use analogies. Well here are my thoughts on Water Barrel Economics.
The water level in a water barrel rises and falls, depending how much water is flowing into or leaking out of it. Think of the waterline as the prosperity of our community. Then consider this...
Money flows into the barrel (our community) in only two ways. There are earned dollars and there are unearned dollars. When we sell a product to an outside customer (or visitor) dollars come into the community, those are earned dollars. Unearned dollars include grants brought in by the city and non profits. Social security and other retirement payments and interest and dividend receipts from outside investments are also unearned dollars.
Unfortunately, money flows out of the barrel lots of ways. When local businesses buy good from outside sources. When local households go out of town to buy goods and services. When citizens pay taxes to state and federal governments. When we (government and individuals) invest in things that don't pay off. When we invest our dollars in outside ventures instead of local business opportunities.
Filling a water barrel doesn't take rocket science. You get a hose and throw one end in the barrel and turn on the water faucet. To fill our economic barrel we need to get more cash flowing into the community by selling more goods and services to outside customers. Rather than complaining about the snowbirds and tourists we need to welcome and encourage them to come and spend!
Another way to maintain a strong local economy is to plug the leaks. We need to find ways to provide locally the goods and services our community is purchasing from other areas. And, we need to continue to encourage people to spend their money locally. This keeps money circulating in the economy instead of pouring out of it.
While we can't cover the rain barrel to keep money from flowing out of our community, we can make a collective effort to slow the dollars leaving our community. Shop Punta Gorda First! And, as a community we need to get really, really, really serious about capturing outside dollars! This year more than ever we need visitors! Lots of them...staying all day and spending lots of money!
I'll be one of the first to admit that shopping in Punta Gorda can be a challenge! Punta Gorda has over 200 retail establishments and nearly 50 restaurants...the problem is that they are scattered all over the place! I thought our local residents needed a resource to help then shop locally. And, I knew our visitors needed an invitation to come! That's why I helped create
puntagordashopping,com!
Now let me leave you with one additional thought!
The photo above shows a calm water barrel. Imagine if the water were in motion. What would happen if we stuck a 90 hp Mercury boat motor into it? The water level would rise! We can compare the speed of the motor to the speed of our local economy. When local business are operating at full speed prosperity is high. So, what is the motor that will stimulate our local economy? Marketing! A community wide effort!
Water Barrel Economics