Here’s Your Ray of Sunshine for the Week

Jim Moody
President

I recently spent a few days with my counterparts from the other state and regional LBM Dealer associations. It’s always good to get together with colleagues, and this is a robust community that shares information and ideas very well.

This year we met in Gettysburg, PA, which is sort of fitting given the times we live in. I was struck by several things at the meeting, some related to the association and some related to the industry.

It’s clear that most of us are in the same boat. Few parts of the country are doing well. Those energy-producing states in the middle part of the country seem to be holding their own, but everyone else is down. The good news is that we are not Michigan or Florida. The bad news is that most of my counterparts were more negative about the future than I’ve been.

Of course, our perspective of “bad” is a little distorted by the good times we’ve been through as a nation and as an industry. You don’t have to go too far on a tour of the battlefield at Gettysburg to gain a sense of perspective. Yes, these are bad times. But they are nothing like what this country has been through before.

Sure, most of us (and perhaps all of us) in this industry worry that the country is teetering on the brink of socialism. We worry about deficits, the credit system, and the fact that no one seems willing or able to build a new house. All of those are valid, but we’ve already seen that the worst predictions about the direction our country is taking are not coming true.

For instance, the card check legislation that all of us feared seems to have hit a wall. I won’t say it’s dead, because there are still compromises in the works. But the ability for a union to organize without a real vote isn’t going to happen.

Ditto on nationalized health care. We may end up with something, but I really don’t think that the full-fledged plan that the Obama administration wanted is going to go come to pass.

In the short run, our nation can move to the extremes. It certainly seemed that we had shifted far to the left. But the beauty of our system is that when the pendulum swings too far right or left, the huddled masses in the middle pull it back. I won’t predict that the majorities in the House or Senate are about to change, but over time (maybe even a short time), we’ll see moderation there. Even today with full control, the extreme liberal left doesn’t have enough power to force its full agenda on America.

So my point here is that while times are bad, they are nothing like we experienced in the Civil War (or War for Southern Independence for you Daughters of the Confederacy) or Reconstruction. We outlasted those bad times and built a great nation. We’ll come out of this as well. OK, maybe Michigan won’t. But everyone else will. Keep the faith.