I just finished reading Dr. Paul Krugman’s excellent book, End This Depression Now! Dr. Krugman won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008, so the guy has a thing or two to say about the “dismal science” of economics.
One phrase kept sticking out for me as I read his book: “My spending is your income, and my income is your spending.” This is the basis for all economic thinking — if I make money in my business, I spend it in your store, and if you make money, you spend it in my store.
As a small business owner — one of the owners of this paper, as a matter of fact — I see this phrase acted out in real life every day. When businesses and individuals place ads in this paper, we spend that money to pay our bills first — printing, distribution, the phones, the lights, the rent, insurance, and so on. If there is something left over at the end of the week, “profit,” the four of us split it evenly. If there is a profit, we spend it on things like housing, food, clothing, electricity, and so on — most of it gets circulated back into our local economy. My so-called discretionary income goes to the local bookstore, restaurant, beer joint, dog food store (not necessarily on the same day or in that order!). It’s just good business to buy local. My spending becomes their income; their income has become my spending.
Community newspapers have struggled in the last ten years to stay afloat. Advertising dollars, which make our paper possible, are harder to come by than ever before. Our advertisers, large and small, see the value of a weekly paper that serves their communities. The readers — about 25,000 of them every week — go out of their way to pick up a copy. Hundreds read us online at weeklyview.net and follow us on Facebook. We love our neighbors and the neighborhoods we serve, and are committed to continuing to be a trusted source of information and entertainment for a long time. But we can’t continue unless we have the financial, as well as emotional support, of our local businesses.
When you hire one of our home service people to mow your lawn or take care of that leaky faucet, that’s more dollars circulated back directly into our local economy (tell them you saw their ad in our paper, will you?). When you spend money with one of our advertisers, know that you’re supporting a local business —and tell’em you saw their ad in the Weekly View.