I think that we all can agree that the economic situation here in Batavia (and other small cities) is in dire need of some stimulation. Just ask any small business owner in town. They know all too well. Rising costs for gas and raw materials have been eating away at their profits for years.

In a few months American taxpayers will be receiving checks in the mail from the United States Government. This $168 billion dollar stimulus package is supposed to help jump start our rapidly decaying economy. What is everyone going to do with this windfall? What we really need to think about is; The United States Government has been borrowing money from China to pay our bills for quite some time now. We already owe them more money than I can even fathom. Now we are going to borrow even more money from China to give the American taxpayer a check to spend as they wish. The theory is that this will give the economy a bump as well as creating much needed tax revenue for the government. This is all well and good, but this is not going to happen if everyone goes to (insert big box store here) to spend it on stuff that is made in China. Who’s economy is this going "stimulate"? Not ours!

However, if we spend it wisely we could help our own local economies. Assuming 15,000 people (roughly the population of Batavia) get $300 each. That equals $4.5 million dollars (remember some folks will get up to $1200 and others will get none). If just half of the recipients spend that money locally it would put $2.25 million dollars into our economy. If all of the recipients only spend half of that money locally it would put $2.25 million dollars into our economy! Either way, it would help our small business owners greatly right now.

So, I have a suggestion for my fellow citizens:

Ask yourself, honestly, what are you going to spend that bonus money on? Is it going to help your local economy or is it going to help (insert big international corporation here) and China’s economy?

When you treat yourself to a night out on the town, why not go to a restaurant owned by a real live local family? Don’t forget to leave the server an extra buck or 2! Where are you going to buy those much needed new tires from this Spring? The same goes for furniture, carpet, pizza, whatever. If we, the citizens, each make a commitment spend the money at a local business we could have our own little economic boom right here. You might be helping a small business owner to squeak through the most painfully slow winter they can remember. Not to mention the government will get the tax revenues they desperately need.

The current population of Genesee county as of 2006 is around 58,800 people. That’s a lot of free money floating around. Let’s put it to good use and save our own economy! We have no control over the stock market or the price of oil, but we can control where this money gets spent. Wall Street will recover as it always has. It’s time to invest in Main Street!