Tom Tom

Second Tom this week is a regular Tom, regular meaning one I see on a regular basis. We walk our dogs and our routes intersect, his dog is one of those special dogs, cute, friendly and playful. Dog is named Harry, and I can tell my dog knows when Harry is coming. He senses it and looks for him. The two of them meet and engage in epic play sessions which reduces Tom to a laughing kid again. Neither one of us is a kid, so to laugh like a kid again is a special treat.

Today Tom asked me the loaded question: Are you busy ? It is a question that people in business ask each other. People in business know that theirs is not the same as being a teacher, a cop, a fireman, or even working for a company. If we lose our jobs as it were, there is no severance, no unemployment, no golden handshake.

I answered truthfully, Not really. I was a couple of weeks back, but it died. He then went on to say that yesterday he checked the phones to make sure they were working and that the lines had not been cut. We talked and he said that he wondered if he could last another year, he added that he had more going on 20 years ago than now and every day seemed more of slide.

So much for economic improvement.

I saw yesterday's version of economic activity , it entailed a huge grouping of men and machines
assembled along side of the highway removing old guardrails and replacing them with shiny new ones. There is nothing wrong with the old ones, save for the fact that they no longer shined. It is only too obvious that this is make work based on deficit spending. For there are precious few who will need the highway to commute into a downtrodden post industrial age northeastern city.

On Main Street we are not seeing it.

So the upshot of my Tom Tom meetings of the week is that the drum beats still call for a change in national direction.