By Gene Ayres

Back when Osama Bin Laden (note to the ignorant: he is actually unrelated to Barack Obama) knocked down the twin towers on 9/11 and our President told us to go shopping, presumably he meant, “We are all consumers.”

Now things look a little dicier. Now no one is explaining to us, least of all our president for the next three months, or for that matter the month after that, what money we should use to go shopping with. Too bad we can't all be AIG. No doubt the rest of us could use a $450,000 holiday break too.

I listened to enough Depression-era stories from my grandparents, and read enough Steinbeck to know things were in a bad way back then. But panic is not a solution, as Wall Street has yet again demonstrated this past week. Panic is never good. Panic means that a small fire on stage leads to 200 people getting trampled to death stampeding for the same exit. Panic means following the lead buffalo off the cliff because a warrior whooped. That's why it's illegal to yell “fire” in a theater unless the lead singer's hair is actually ablaze. Panic is why there are now mechanisms in place to shut down the stock markets, not just on Wall Street, but globally. Panic is what happens when you don't stop and think. Panic is what happens when you shoot first and don't bother to ask questions.

Right now the global economy is in a state of panic, and that is not good.

One important difference we consumers should bear in mind between 1929 (or 1933 for that matter) and 2008 is that now there are protections in place to prevent the very worst thing that brought the roof down, literally, back then: bank failure. Yes, bank failure has been in the news all week, and that is why all these meetings have been taking place, and grave actions taken, and that 700 billion bailout had to happen. I don't like it any better than the next guy, us taxpayers bailing out the fat cats. But the alternative is unthinkable: a run on the banks, money under the mattress, and then, as has happened in Argentina and presently in Zimbabwe, suddenly that money is so inflated, so worthless, it isn't even good for mattress stuffing. So when the government solves problems by just printing more money, yes, we are in deep trouble.

Luckily, we aren't there yet.

I do believe in the banking system. I like the idea of being able to lend my money to the bank in return for a modest return in interest, which, when done together with all my neighbors and fellow citizens of Bedford Falls, said bank can then turn around and lend that same money—mine and yours—to a worthy cause: a local startup business (maybe the next Microsoft, or Starbucks) to get off the ground. Or for your neighbor, and maybe later on you, to borrow enough money to buy a house (yes, I know, they are still unsustainably overpriced). In that sense money did indeed make the world go round.

My bank happens to be Washington Mutual, our once and local favorite, WaMu, now in grave disrepair and disrepute. Disrepute maybe. But WaMu, and now it's parent company, are still in business. And my account is still insured, and I have no intention of pulling out my money and stuffing it under my mattress. That would be the worst thing I could do. If we all did that, not only would this bring WaMu down the rest of the way, and possibly drag Chase/Morgan along with it, but it would ultimately turn that mattress stuffing into—you got it—mattress stuffing.

So I'm leaving my money where it is because (and I know certain Main Street Joe Sixpacks might disagree) it's like paying taxes. It's patriotic. It's the right thing to do. It's my small way of helping keep the system afloat.

Coincidentally, and for the record, my homeowner's insurance policy is currently with AIG. But my patriotic impulses stop there. I lost a bundle ten years ago when my investment in a nice little kitchen appliance company, Sunbeam, was used (along with a lot of other people's life savings) to buy the CEO a hood ornament for his Rolls and a mansion in Florida. The guy still lives there, last I heard. Never again, as the saying goes. I'm not about to contribute my future premiums to a company that takes taxpayer bailouts to go on a luxury cruise.

I'm switching to Safeco, even if I can't afford tickets to their stadium.

But as for GWB's solution to 9/11, going shopping, I don't think so. I've posted a lot of dispatches in the past on how to minimize that kind of activity as the times require: use thrift stores, discount markets, dollar stores, farmer's markets, use Consumer Reports to choose a good used car, and so on. And we could all see this coming a year ago or more, when suddenly a lot of us were paying more than our total income for the three basics of food, shelter and transportation, a situation that cannot sustain.

Yes, My Friends. The old Chinese curse is upon us. These are indeed Interesting Times. But the key to all of our survival is to not panic. A little common sense would go a long way, as well.

Ciao for now, and let's all of us look before we leap.