B-Sides: If winter deepened Americans’ worries, maybe spring can help break vicious economic cycle

By Mark Bennett

This recession sucks. This recession coinciding with cold-and-flu season sucks exponentially.

Even in robust economic times, the gray and cold of winter can dampen spirits. But the Great Recession of ’08-09 empowered Old Man Winter like spinach in Popeye. The recession kicked into high gear as autumn ended last year, and as the temperatures dropped, the jobless rates climbed. The cold felt colder. The ice looked slicker. The news — bad as it truly was — seemed more dreadful.

Spring may become our natural stimulus package.

It won’t necessarily convince Average Joes and Janes to spend some bucks to put new plumbing in the bathroom. It won’t tangibly inspire a bank to take a chance on lending a young entrepreneur credit to open a creative new business.

But sunshine, green wheat fields and fresh air can’t hurt.

“How can people not feel better when it’s 60 degrees outside after the winter we’ve had?” said Tom Steiger, professor of sociology at Indiana State University.

I agree. And how can people not feel better when they’re listening to Richie Havens’ inspiring version of “Here Comes the Sun”?

It’s the basis of my 12-step plan to get our minds to start envisioning an end to this winter and this recession. The countdown to spring officially began this morning, with the onset of daylight-saving time. There are 12 days until spring officially begins March 20. I’ve got an assignment for you. (You’ll need a computer and online access. If you don’t have a computer, head to the library — one that’s still open.)

Log on to the Web site YouTube.com, and search for Havens’ 1971 rendition of “Here Comes the Sun.” The Woodstock alum has a rich, coal-cellar voice and frenetic strumming style on his acoustic guitar. Backed by another guitarist, a bass player and a guy on congas, Havens offers The Beatles’ lyrics with his own twist and hope … “Little darlin’, it’s been a long, lonely winter; little darlin’, it’s been so long since it’s been clear. Here comes the sun.” The sound has therapeutic powers.

(You can go straight to the video at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8HBHWYd6ug.)

It’s only 3 minutes and 30 seconds long. Give it a spin every morning until spring, and see if it helps, even a little.

Of course, music can’t cure the recession. Its remedy involves a complex web of actions and inevitabilities, from the infusion of the federal stimulus money into public infrastructure and energy projects, to incentives for small businesses to make capital investments, to the resolution of the collapsed housing and automotive industries. Nonetheless, a key component of economic restoration must include confidence and — yes — optimism among consumers and lenders. They have to regain willingness and courage to spend and take a risk on a creative idea.

At some point, the country needs to see the smiles returning to their faces.

Spring seems like a logical starting place for Americans to inject the confidence necessary to end the vicious circle of spending pullbacks and layoffs and downsizings.

“A lot of it is based on confidence,” Linda Rosenberg, CEO of the National Council for Community and Behavioral Healthcare, said by telephone from Maryland. “Anybody who’s spent any time in malls lately knows how quiet they are. And as the weather warms up, people may get out of the house and into the stores more to buy a rake, or a lawn mower or garden tools.”

That nonprofit association includes 1,400 mental health-care facilities around the country, including the Wabash Valley. Last month, the council distributed a survey by the American Psychological Association that found nearly half of all adults feel increasingly stressed about their ability to provide for their family’s basic needs. Those worries have intensified the typical “winter blues” this year.

“The economy is taking a great toll psychologically,” Rosenberg said.

And vice versa. Americans’ sinking spirits are taking a toll on the economy. In a Friday report on job losses, Bloomberg quoted Sears chairman Edward Lampert as saying, “This past year has been a very difficult year for world economies and for retail in the United States, and 2009 needs to be the year of restoring confidence and trust in our financial system.”

In the Wabash Valley, larger numbers of people who have either lost jobs or fear losing a job have sought advice from Hamilton Center this winter, said Rhonda Earl, a licensed mental health counselor at its Clay County location. She’s heard numerous people say they can’t wait for spring.

“Even though it’s still the same [economic situation], there’s something psychologically hopeful when seasons change, when there’s more sunshine,” Earl said. “There’s hope for a new beginning. They’ll look for the free things, the simpler things in life that will make them happy.”

It’s an opportunity to get outdoors, and away from looping, 24-hour TV news reminders of this predicament. “In winter, you spend more time indoors, and that’s just hit us relentlessly — how bad it is,” Rosenberg said.

The answer to breaking that cycle and replanting seeds of optimism may be as simple as moving from the couch to the porch, and replacing the TV remote with a newspaper or a book. Spring allows us to do that, said Steiger, an astute observer of human tendencies.

Sing it, Richie.

Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.

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