SANDY SPRINGS: Government can’t fix economy without us

I met a friend at Starbucks recently who told me she’d believe we were in a real economic pickle when the line in the designer-coffee place was no longer 10 deep. I can see her point.

It reminds me of being a kid when I broke something and handed it to my dad and said “fix it,” whether it could be repaired or not. A cute memory, but by the time we grow up we’re not supposed to be handing off responsibility for a solution to anyone without being part of the answer.

I can read; I know this is a national crisis. I know what the unemployment stats are. A friend has curtailed his activities away from work to make sure he can concentrate on keeping his job. Another is working at a salary less than she is worth because it is a job with benefits.

But then I see the parking lot jammed with people shelling out $4 for a cup of coffee and I wonder if we are really getting it within our own small universe. When gas went to $4.50 per gallon, people couldn’t bail on their SUV fast enough. But when the price dipped under two bucks, the car dealers were able to sell the gas guzzlers again.

One might think we are a little slow to adopt the fiscal responsibility we expect the federal government and big business to embrace. This isn’t multi-colored Monopoly money here —- this is real cash coming out of our pockets.

When the government was thinking about spending your money to rescue ineptly run companies, did you bother to send a letter to the White House? Did you call the people who represent Sandy Springs in Congress? Do you even know their names? Would you know where to look?

It’s great sport these days to complain about corporate CEOs who spend thousands on office appointments like antique trash cans and Persian throw rugs, but isn’t there more to Citizenship 101 than fussing and expecting someone else to fix it?

I don’t want to see any business here in town go under, but let’s not moan too loudly about all this money being wasted when we stand in line all night to buy an expensive video game system, as well as support a gaggle of coffeehouses, fast-food joints and a couple of porn palaces right here in our own city. None are getting by on their good looks.

We won’t fix this national problem by curtailing our own discretionary spending, but it might help us sleep a little better. And for a lot of people a good night’s sleep is mighty hard to come by these days.

> Jim Osterman, with a few work- and education-related interruptions, has lived in Sandy Springs since 1962.