Bears and bulls

Mayhem, fear and insecurity are engulfing our global financial
markets this week. On Wall Street, the pessimistic bears have
crushed the confident footing of the burly market bulls.
Here, different bulls and bears in recent days have been part of
a very different story.
Here, the bulls are the longhorn cattle that were herded last
Sunday through downtown Santa Rosa as part of the celebration of
the Sonoma County Fair’s 75th anniversary celebration. Big, happy
and boisterous crowds turned out for the staged event that was part
of the fair’s annual Farmer’s Day.
Meanwhile thousands of “lazy bears” descended upon Guerneville
and the Russian River resorts for a big weekend of gay men’s
celebrations and visitor activities. Lodges, restaurants, shops and
services enjoyed a very welcomed mid-summer economic boost. The
Lazy Bear Weekend is part of an ongoing improving trend in county
hotel and inn occupancy rates and an overall tourism rebound.
Elsewhere across Sonoma County, while investors and brokers ran
for cover on Wall Street, we toured and tasted our way through our
local weekend farmers’ markets, enjoyed outdoor concerts and
theater and we hosted thousands of Wine Country visitors. As usual,
it’s all bounty and beauty, here in Sonoma “country.” Or is it?
Does this picture mean that Sonoma County is immune and
separated from the turmoil and economic fears on Wall Street? Of
course not. We re-learned that harsh lesson with the bursting
housing market bubble in 2008.
But, like all stories about bears, bulls and the stock market,
much of the fear and uncertainty of today’s Wall Street is part of
a self-fulfilling prophecy, where a perception of a collapse
becomes reality as the Dow Jones average goes into free fall,
dropping 20 percent of its value in a single day.
This time, however, the story of our failing financial markets
is very different. This time, it’s not just financial — it has
become political, with its start arising from the bitter, blind and
bull-headed debate in Congress over the nation’s debt ceiling.
When Congress and President Obama failed to craft a satisfactory
plan to balance our nation’s deficit and need for economic
stimulus, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. Treasury’s
credit rating for the first time in history. (This is the same
S&P that rated all those exotic housing mortgages as AAA in
2008.) This time S&P is accusing the GOP-led Congress and
President Obama of “kicking the can down the road” and risking
another catastrophic credit collapse.
Who can blame stock market investors from feeling fearful and
betrayed by our government leaders who placed personal political
gain ahead of our commonwealth’s economic well-being.
What will it take to restore investors’ confidence in our
financial markets? Without it, we will not have new jobs, better
pay or improved local tax revenues.
We must now turn toward Congress and its new “Super Committee”
that must find $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts by December. The
debate will be over a Republican pledge for “all cuts” or a balance
of “cuts and new revenues.” Standard & Poor’s is predicting
more “governmental dysfunction” and can-kicking.
If Congress was in charge of our county fair, farmers markets,
tourism industry and our crop harvests, we would be facing our own
“downgrading” by S&P.
Imagine running a county fair or other public enterprise by only
making budget cuts and not making ongoing investments. Try to keep
a farm, orchard or vineyard in good yield without investments of
labor, machinery and some loans. In tourism, you’ve got to spend
money to make money. Leave it to Congress and half of Sonoma
County’s inns and wine tasting rooms would be locked.
This week President Obama said America has “always been a
triple-A country.”
That was before the current Congress took power.
— Rollie Atkinson