What People are Thinking: We're Stuck in Neutral

One of the great benefits being on Council is that I get the opportunity to hear - a lot - from average people about their concerns, worries, hopes, dreams and fears. Obviously when we campaign we door knock and talk with people. But even after the hoopla of the campaign is over, we are back at it listening to our constituents.

Both during and since the campaign I have been hearing from constituents - most of whom have steady jobs, a nice house and a good feeling about their own personal situation - that they are just tired and mad. They are tired that the economy is stuck in neutral and mad that it seems nothing can be done about it. And this is coming from people who live in an area where unemployment is around 6 percent and is one of the wealthiest in the country.

Yet, they are tired and mad. In fact, this is the mood of America. It's why you are seeing tea party candidates rack up wins, why both Democrats and Republicans striking a populist tone and why, come November, we will likely see many incumbents thrown out of office. And it may have nothing to do with them personally, it's just that they are, well, an incumbent and in the voters' mind, part of the problem.

Even at the local level in the City of Fairfax where people generally have a positive view of their government, people are still upset. They feel frustrated. I actually think that's why we saw the low turnout this past May election.

From what I'm hearing people want to have their old economy back. This "new normal" isn't fun. And even if you are fine economically, you are still exposed to a media that is reporting the bleakness of our situation. So you can't really be happy if you know your fellow neighbor or American in Des Moines doesn't have a job. We don't want to gloat when others aren't doing well; that's not what Americans do. We typically want to be all in this together, for good or bad.

So here we are, with economists telling us the recession has ended in June 2009 and a feeling of pessimism sweeping the country. As I've written before, I'm personally optimistic about both the country and especially the City of Fairfax. Yet, I totally understand the fears and frustrations people have. And I would have to agree with them that, overall, our economy is stuck in neutral.

Question is: What will fix it?

I'm not an economist, but from what I read I sense that two things will help move the country forward: The first is certainty of policies and regulations. No matter one's political views, it's fair to say there has been a lot of change in Washington and it would be nice to take a breather. For instance, the healthcare law's first set of regulations are 4,000 pages. That's a lot for the business community - who create the bulk of the jobs we have - to digest.

The second thing is time. That's right, time. Just like dieting or paying down debt, time is what we need. The economic mess we're in wasn't created overnight and no single presidential administration is to blame. The excess that built up in the economic system, including all of the debt, is still being wrung out. And it will take time for companies to feel certain about hiring and for consumers to feel certain about spending and investing.

The economy is tough. No doubt about it. And people are tired and frustrated. They don't want to be stuck in neutral. I agree. We need to put the economy in drive.