July 12, 2022 Fear and the Economy

Recession.

A scarier word than pandemic – almost. 

And it is what our country and the world are in the grip of. Or so the media tells us. The reality is much more bizarre…

And complicated.

I have watched the phones for my business go silent. People suddenly are not booking lake tours, and I have wondered why? So I went to my local hotels, and B and B’s in search of new customers. The word is the same at both the hotels and the B and B’s – June was gangbusters, they were filling up fast and things looked like it was going to be a good summer. 

Then interest rates went up and spending went down. The story is the same everywhere and it is the opposite of last year and different than most. July 1 came at a time when the Okanagan usually fills up – this year the phones went quiet. People started to cancel their trips and everyone stopped spending. Now boats, RVs, and houses are available and their prices are dropping. Nothing is selling and the boom that was driven by a false sense of prosperity has crashed to earth with an economic thud.

So what does the government do?

They raise interest rates another full percentage point. The largest increase in a generation. Sometimes I wonder if the powers that be in Ottawa have a clue what they are doing. First, they handed out money like candy at a birthday party. 

Now the party is over.

And yet the biggest struggle many businesses have is finding people to work. We went by a restaurant in Peachland on a Monday and it was closed, the owner was sitting on the deck working. We asked her why she was closed and she told us she only got two resumes this year for employees and hired them both. Last summer her place was the only one open after 8 pm. Now she is struggling to stay open. How can a restaurant survive being open from 10 am until 5 pm? Not even open for dinner. And she isn’t the only one.

I don’t understand. If we are in a recession why are there not more people looking for work? The government is no longer giving people money to stay home, and covid is all but over. Where are all the young workers? Are they at home living off their parents? Yet how can their parents afford to feed them when the cost of food has increased by twenty percent?

So many questions.

All we can do is get up every day and look for answers. I hope the government doesn’t decide to tax that…

My Dad always told me to save for a rainy day.

The economic storm we are facing is as bad as the viral one. I hope not too many people shelter from it for too long. Because it could be a pretty bad storm if we do