How To Deal With A Recession: Zig When Others Zag

DJ Smith / Feb 6th / Comments

Union Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut was commanding the USS Hartford on April 5, 1864, in the Battle of Mobile Bay.  The monitor, USS Tecumseh, had struck a mine (then called torpedoes) and sank. Other ships in Farragut’s fleet started to pull back in fear. When Farragut asked what the trouble was the reply was simply, “Torpedoes!” Not content with that response, the aggressive commander told his men to forget the torpedoes and charge full speed ahead. At the command the majority of the fleet succeeded in defeating enemy forces at the last major port of the Confederate army.

I know what you’re asking yourself – what does this have to do with a recession? Well, what made Adm. Farragut successful was that he chose to zig when other were zagging. With all the bad news and reports that bombard us about our economy, we fear what lies ahead and subsequently start to fall back. However, it is in this very moment that we must have businesses and consumers alike to rethink their retreat, ignore the negative thinking, and charge full speed ahead to fix our economy. We need the common people and business to stand up and zig while others zag. But how? Let’s take a cue from the tycoon of chocolate, Milton Hershey, and simply spend money.

Milton Hershey was definitely a man accustomed to zigging when others zagged. He had a roller coaster ride building the Hershey empire. It was no easy path to success. However, Hershey worked and reworked and developed an affordable chocolate for the masses. And the masses did come, much to Hershey’s delight. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, most businesses were either laying off workers or closing their doors, and consumer confidence shrunk to nearly nothing (sounds familiar).

However, strange things were happening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the smell of chocolate wafted in the air. Milton Hershey knew that in such dire times the way to save money was to spend it. So against conventional wisdom, Milton Hershey began some very ambitious projects. As the Hershey, Pennsylvania’s, Web site reads, “Many of the town’s impressive structures were built … as part of Milton Hershey’s ‘Great Building Campaign,’ to provide jobs. It was then that monumental structures such as The Hotel Hershey, community center, theatre, sports arena and stadium were constructed, transforming the town into a major tourist attraction that continues to grow in popularity each year.”

Milton Hershey knew how to zig when others zagged, and we need more businesses and consumers to step up and charge full speed ahead, turning the tide of our economy. Our United States were not built by the sweat of one man or one woman’s brow but by the efforts of a united group controlling their own destinies. It will be by that same attitude and spirit that we alter the course of our economy in the days that lie ahead.