Encourages spending locally, not sending money overseas

Improving the economy needn't be a spectator sport. If you have a job or are comfortably retired, you can play an active role in the "trickle-up" local economy by spending with local small businesses and their work forces.

Chances are, many of your neighbors work or worked at a service businesses such as auto mechanics, cleaning people, electricians, financial advisors, home improvement contractors, lawyers, landscapers, painters, tax preparation, etc. -- check your local advertising.

But because the economy is "bad," consumers tend to delay auto maintenance, home repairs, getting a will updated, or they opt to "do it yourself," even though there are currently bargains to be had. This counter-productive behavior delays our economic recovery.

Unfortunately, U.S. consumers are programmed to spend on big, `trusted' brands for clothing and electronics which are produced overseas. When your U.S. dollars flow overseas, they stop contributing to domestic taxes. Instead they are loaned back to support our deficit spending.

The so-called 1 percent own these big brands, and they do create jobs, but mostly overseas. Apple's late Steve Jobs said manufacturing is not coming back to the U.S. -- period. This is the bottom-line problem with globalization and trade imbalances.

And the 1 percent really don't care, because they still make money by leveraging cheap overseas labor. This explains why the rich are getting richer and the middle class is declining. Americans need to stop automatically flocking to big brands and instead spend locally, the 99 percent's future depends on it.

John Mazur

Brookfield