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It’s Christmas In The Keys

Editorial by: Tom Oosterhoudt

Lighted boat parades, gingerbread parties, Christmas concerts, Silverliners, Handel’s Messiah, the diverse city Christmas parade, dog Christmas parties, Hanukkah, Kwaanza...let’s face it, the holidays are an amazing time in the Florida Keys. Busy sidewalks, children laughing, people smiling...yes, the holidays are here. In a strange way, it’s a relief to see the normalcy of holiday celebration. Let’s all hope that this translates to a return to a somewhat normal economy as America seems to be in the recovery mode.

Some national politicians continue to tell us the sky is falling, with a reported 11 trillion dollar national debt. With the current population of 307,476,013, they say each citizen’s share of the debt is about $40,000. Should we be concerned?

What the doomsayers don’t ever say is that America has by far the strongest economy in the world, even now. Its nominal gross national product was $14.4 trillion in 2008, which is about 3 times that of the world’s second largest economy, Japan. Even more fascination, it’s almost twice that of China. No wonder they invest so much in America. Furthermore, the U.S. economy is the world’s largest in both nominal value and purchasing power parity. The biggest factor contributing to the success of the American economy is the freedom that is allowed to the private sector to make its own economic decisions.

Even in what was seen as an economic downturn this past year, consumer spending made up 72 percent of the economic activity in the U.S. in 2008. The fact is, even in a time when unemployment may seem out of whack and sales a little slower, America has by far the most stable economy in the world today. And no one seems to mention that the government is collection 2 trillion dollars a year in tax revenue.

So what does it all mean? Who knows, but the next time you see someone on the news screaming about the national debt, perhaps it’s a good time to put it all in perspective before freaking out over such politically charged reports.

In the meantime, have yourself a merry little Christmas, and be thankful that we live in the Florida Keys...where life is always good.

Tom Oosterhoudt
Editor & Publisher

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