Michael S. Green: Ante up for the local economy

To understand the recession properly, go play some Texas Hold ‘Em. Poker is more fun than Economics 101 – and no less challenging.

Let’s start with the visuals: A slick dealer sits at an oval table covered in green felt. Nine players sit elbow to elbow with poker chips piled high before them. In a tournament format – unlike cash games and real life – everyone is equal to start.

Then the cards start flying, and the players start betting. More and more chips go into the pot, or not for those who fold their cards. In most cases, there is only one winner for each hand, and the losing bettors get zilch, zip, nada.

Remember that betting thing; it’s today’s key concept. It’s risk and reward, profit and loss. It’s how money circulates on the table between players, and don’t forget the house gets a cut. The stakes may differ wildly, but the poker pros on TV follow the same basic rules as players in local card rooms in casinos. They put their own money up to make money from others.

And so it is with the larger economy. Invest wisely, and reap your rewards. Make a bad bluff – subprime mortgages, anyone? – and suffer the consequences. Analyze your competition’s every move. Expect to lose, often, before you score big. That’s not just poker, folks, that’s capitalism.

At least, that’s capitalism when it’s not having a bad hair day. Now everyone’s selling, but nobody’s buying. No risk. No reward. And no surprise, then, that times are tough. We need to reboot our understanding of market forces.

When poker players get tight, the pots shrink and disappear. The normal cycle of winning and losing is disrupted. When betting grinds to a halt, the game dies despite all the money that’s sitting on the table in plain view.

Businesses and households sometimes do the same thing, and this recession is only the latest example. Nobody’s spending money, and that’s not solely because of bad loans or bad calls made by corporate execs. Everyone’s tightened up – everyone – even those who are doing relatively well. As for the government’s  attempts to stimulate the economy through massive, pork-barrel spending, that’s more a political game than something that will have practical effect. If you’re waiting on Washington to solve this mess, much less our reps in Sacramento, you’re missing the point by a country mile.

Yes, government has fallen on hard times, mainly because it’s as bloated as a dead fish on a hot day. You can get away with it when times are good, but tax revenues fall when the private sector declines. If there’s some good to be found in the market downturn, it’s that some non-essential government programs will be pared down or eliminated to preserve critical functions like public safety. Such moves are long overdue, recession or not.

Newspaper companies like ours are struggling, too, but that’s not solely the fault of the recession, either. Our industry is shifting from a print-based business model to a digital one where revenues are growing but still relatively small. That 5 percent pay cut our parent company announced this week, which follows last quarter’s furloughs, are serious steps but necessary to keep delivering our core products in print and online. So while it’s true that Tri-County Newspapers has fewer chips to play with these days, we’re still taking care of business and very much in the game.

What about you? Are you in the game or watching from the sidelines? I’m not talking about the layoff and furlough crowd; if you’re unemployed and behind on the rent, you don’t have the means to kick-start the economy.

But many others are much more fortunate. They invested wisely when times were better and have adequate savings to weather the storm. Others will see a good harvest this fall. The pulse of an ag-based economy may be slow, but it’s strong and steady. Wealth is grown here, not made, and it’s harvested through hard work.

So let’s get the game going again, at least locally. If you’ve got chips you can put on the table, please do so. Make that big-ticket purchase you’ve been putting off. Go out to dinner, and leave a big tip. Invest in something that will make your life better or pay dividends down the road. Donate to charity, if nothing else; the poor and needy can’t rely on the government any more than we can these days.

No, we can’t fix the global economy, but we can all do our part to make things better at home. If you’ve got financial resources available, stop holding back until times get better. Make something happen. Put your chips in play.

Michael S. Green is Tri-County Newspapers’ managing editor. Contact him at 934-6800 or mgreen@tcnpress.com.