Spring, schming: Teamwork's the thing

With the economic recovery skipping North Idaho like a truant dodging school officials, the last thing our region needed was a stultifying, de-stimulating long, wet spring.

So by Jupiter, that's exactly what we got.

Hundreds of local businesses have been hurt by Mother Nature's lackadaisical attitude toward showing Old Man Winter the door. The cold and wet damper on business has had a snowball effect: If your business hasn't been hit directly by the weather - like landscapers, nurseries, sprinkler operations and many others have - their misfortune has become your misfortune. When many of these seasonal operations get smacked, others feel their pain. It's the bad side of trickle-down economics. And it could hardly come at a worse time.

Gas prices have motorists fuming. Grocery carts may soon come equipped with helmets so shoppers won't hurt themselves smacking their heads in disbelief over escalating prices. Those lucky enough to have a job hold out little hope of higher pay or benefits. In fact, we're hearing more frequently of pay cuts than pay raises.

Conclusion: When you're forced to make less and spend more, that spells big trouble.

So what do we do? Well, we could cross our fingers and invest in grocery cart helmets, but we think there's a better idea.

Let's stick together.

Seriously, that's what it will take to turn around our season of discontent.

When we hear of local businesses purchasing goods and services out of state that are available here at competitive prices, when we hear of consumers wandering over the state line for minor and major purchases, we shake our heads. And we can't help but think that as long as that mentality prevails, North Idaho will just keep stunting its ability to break free of the economic doldrums.

If it seems like the whole world is against us, maybe that's not far off the mark.

But as we've reminded ourselves time and time again, when North Idahoans put their minds and muscle to it, they can be world beaters. A little assist from Mother Nature wouldn't hurt, either.