"Fear Causes Consumer Hibernation"
By Francis McGuckin

There is only a remote possibility of a Canadian person receiving anthrax in the mail or being the victim of a plane hijacking, but between the devastating events of September 11th, the anthrax scare, plus the uncertainty of a potential war involving Canada, consumers are full of fear and have gone into hibernation.

It seems that no one is escaping unscathed. Phones, e-mails and shopping malls are quiet. Business is not booming. A recent Friday evening visit to my local popular shopping mall left me wondering where all the credit-card crazy Canadian shopoholics had disappeared to. Sale signs were in abundance. Shoppers were not.

We are a nation fraught with fear, which is being continuously fed intravenously into our brains by the media. Fear prohibits people from attempting and achieving greatness in their lives. In fact, the biggest fear - up to September 11th - was fear of public speaking, rated number one over the fear of death. I'm not so sure about those statistics now.

Yes, an important factor has emerged from this event. We have finally realized the importance of our families. Without family, life is meaningless. But, life does go on. People are closing the coffers, stopping their spending and cocooning - waiting for what? I'm not sure.

And most businesses across Canada and the United States are suffering. Badly. Reports from many diversified businesses indicate that no one is escaping the widespread effect. Yet consumers cause their own recession, once again, fuelled by the media.

If you don't spend, businesses go broke, employees are laid off, debts aren't paid, and voila! We have a recession on our hands. A classic example is the mutual fund sector. Now is the time to purchase long-term deals in a market that traditionally will always increase in value over time. But no one is investing. So the investment companies are laying of hundreds of workers.

Some local restaurants in my hometown of Langley cite a drop in business of up to 60 percent, as do travel agents, who work on slim - and getting slimmer - margins. Small businesses have a big enough challenge drawing shoppers away from the big box malls. We should have more faith and less fear and support these hard-working merchants.

Christmas is coming, a period which can make or break many retail stores. Open those purse strings, shop 'til you drop, and continue life as you normally would. Who knows what the future will bring? Enjoy each day for the beauty it brings, and don't be roped into this frantic fear frenzy. That was the terrorist's ultimate goal. Don't let them win.