Resetting the Economy -- Keep Calm and Carry On (Editorial Blog)

Over the course of the last two months I've had many conversations with suppliers and retailers during which they decried the media coverage of the current economic crisis. If only, they said, the media would let up on the "doom and gloom." However, the dire coverage has continued unabated.

Last week, as I read through the reports on the decline in advertising--car companies used to advertise a lot--and the subsequent impact that decline has had on the revenues of all media outlets, it occurred to me that it must be difficult not to feel doom and gloom when the economic wolves are at your door. CanwestGlobal, Torstar, CTV, the CBC, Rogers and more are in real trouble. In fact, it looks as if the media landscape of the country will be changing dramatically in the coming months. Perhaps, I thought, these circumstances have colored the reporting of the economic crisis.

But, it turns out that there's much more to the doom and gloom than that. In an excellent article in Saturday's Globe and Mail, award-winning feature writer Ian Brown examined the "boom in doom." His article, Divas of Doom Find their Fame in Peddling the Direst of Fortunes to Pessimistic Masses, concluded that "what doesn't sell is being in the reasonable middle." Economists and experts such as Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini and Niall Ferguson have added to the feeling of great calamity with their dire predictions. And, the ordinary citizen contributes to the doom too. Brown quotes Vivian Rakoff, professor emeritus in the department of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She says. "There is a peculiar human need to contemplate disaster. Because there is a sense that if it gets bad enough, we can start over again."

I thought this was interesting in light of the popularity of newly-elected U.S. President Barack Obama, a man who embodies--and wrote eloquently of--the "audacity of hope." Does he represent a starting over? It also brought to mind an interview on CBC Radio's The Current that I listened to one day last week while I was driving to work. Richard Florida, the academic behind the concept of the creative class, was being questioned by the show's guest host, Gillian Findlay. In the course of their conversation, Florida made the point that economic crises of the sort we are in "reset" the culture. We change the way we do business, the way we live, where we work, and more, he said. In other words, we start again. But, it strikes me that it's not a start like at the beginning of a race; it's not a fixed line. It's an evolution.

How do we survive this evolution? I think with hope and pragmatism. Brown's article had this snippet in it: "In England, storekeepers are posting a sign in their windows: Keep Calm and Carry On, it reads, a slogan revived from the Blitz." Keep Calm and Carry On--that strikes me as excellent advice for the times. You might also ignore the direst of the doomsayers and instead pay attention to the more positive forecasts. Perhaps the media will start to do the same.

Comments (1)

justin:

What exactly did you mean in the second sentance?

Posted by justin | September 7, 2010 4:10 AM

Posted on September 7, 2010 04:10

Editorial Blog

Commentary on retailing, shopping, consumers and the gifts and tablewares industry today by G&T editor Lori Smith

Resetting the Economy -- Keep Calm and Carry On

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