Editorial: John Strand

By John Strand
Staff Writer

Fargo and North Dakota have recently been in the national news spotlight for our relatively sound state and local economies. People find our budget surpluses curious and our conservative banking mindset noteworthy.

We’d be naive to think that global economic woes will not have measurable local impact. Truth is, the cattle are already out of the gate. Countless layoffs are making headlines, and our unemployment rate is escalating. Families in need are growing in number. And the unspoken reality that everyone vested in the markets has taken a beating: pensions and retirement funds in the balance…retirement in question.

We’d also be remiss to not point out the obvious opportunities in tough times such as these. Those of us who live in sparsely populated regions have benefits that are more than heartwarming.

What we have is community. And family. We have people who care and share, who look out for each other, who help others along the way. In that regard, no matter how bad things get, we are wealthier than practically everyone else on the face of the planet. Our chances for safety and survival here are many fold higher.

Yes, our state and many local governments in North Dakota have current surpluses and/or high reserves. And yes, we have agriculture and energy, two solid players in the world economy. And yes, our banks and financial infrastructures seem stable to date.

But that may be only temporary. While we all hope for a turnaround in the economy, and we have immense faith in supposed government bailouts and the like, it would be wise for us here in the hinterland to prepare for the worst.
Planning and preparation can be on our to-do list. The head of the household has a job to do. They need to make a plan. Prepare. Then people network with each other through neighborhood and community. Assess needs. Establish communication channels. Triage needs and wants. Pass it on to neighborhood associations, civic, church and community leaders, and finally to county and state levels of leadership.

We could only be so fortunate as to have the recession recede before it ripples up on our shores here, but that’s unlikely. State leaders should not avoid the elephant in the middle of the living room, especially now as our biennial legislative assembly is now convened. They should prepare a worst case scenario contingency plan for the possibility of extended tumultuous times.

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. If we spend away our budget reserves, we will be in the same dire straits as everyone else, fighting over sparse resources and in line with others begging for assistance.

If there is anything others cannot take from us, it is the abundance of our advantages here, especially compared to the rest of the world. We have few people. We have extra food and extra energy. We have places to live and house families safely. And we have room to welcome others who are willing to join up with our community approach to life and to helping each other through tough times.

A natural desire is to sugar coat problems and to downplay the potential realities that deliver challenges to all of us individually and collectively. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Good scouts that we are, let’s get prepared just in case, eh?

March Birthdays…

Happy Birthday to the following celebrating this month: Jan Keefe-Ashizawa, Kurt Kiefer, Ed Raymond, Janet Stringer, Sue Petry, Gary Bjelde, Mark McDonald, Adam Troy, Mike Marth, Deb Jenkins, John Shipley, Kay Robinson-Johnson, Brandon Kleinwort, John Marks, Shadd Piehl, John Morgan, Bonnie Molde-Strand, Patti Desautel, Jade Nielsen, Dave Valdez, Margaret Swift, Art Schollmeyer, Peter O’Toole, Elijah Larson, Garth Blomberg, Tom Bixby, Scott Anderson, Nick Mihelich, Pat Bye, Marv Kaiser, Bobby Delage, Jon Offutt, Justin Schardin, Peter McMerty, Jeff Schulte, Larry Gauper, Pat Mattson, Sally Morris, Bruce Gjovig, Rae M. Desautel, Mark “Tank” Hamre, Mike Agnew, Gail Waffle, Bev Dolan, Ryan Johnson, John Zvirovski, Lisa Meyers, Linda Ehreth, Gloria Fiedler, Sharon Humphrey.