As we look forward to 2010, we all realize the precarious state of our economy, both in the North Country and across America. When we look back on 2010, let's hope we can say it was the year we were especially attentive to seeing each other through it.
In some ways, the coming year holds great promise: We've finished off 12 of the most wildly unpredictable months in our memory. The economic disasters that haunted the end of 2008 clung stubbornly in early 2009, but some signs turned positive. The stock market was one. After closing at an all-time high of 14,164 on Oct. 9, 2007, it had plunged to 6,594 by March 5, 2009. But by this past Monday, it had fought back to 10,547.
Jobs had been lost at an alarming rate, but by year's end, small gains were infusing some optimism, as the unemployment rate actually descended. The moribund housing market also showed signs of life.
But the state continued to wallow in an awful mess, and the still-grim employment picture overshadowed most of what progress anyone was seeing, locally or nationally.
Hundreds of people in Plattsburgh were put out of work during the past year by Georgia-Pacific, Pfizer and Bombardier. Elsewhere, hiring and pay freezes prevailed. This is hardly a formula for recovery.
Still, though, things are better for most than they were a year ago, and the North Country still has one ingredient that should ease the lot of even the most discouraged among us: native generosity.
North Country residents never stop astonishing us with their willingness to help others, whenever they see an opportunity. We'll run a story in the Press-Republican about someone down on his luck, and it's practically guaranteed that a reader will leap to the rescue.
Never in our memory has this characteristic been more needed and rarely more welcome. Even though even the local economy has been stagnant over the past year, giving has continued at a surprising pace. United Way, Clinton County Christmas Bureau and a multitude of other charities are able to continue their altruism because our citizens continue theirs.
The year 2010 will be a year of palpable progress, we hope. We must trust that true health-care reform will prevail to insure the many millions who have had no coverage in the past. And we must hope it accomplishes this without bankrupting us.
We hope the jobless will be put back to work. Efforts continue locally to train people who have lost careers to prepare for new ones. We hope these preparations pay off.
We hope individuals will be more tolerant of each others' foibles, more sympathetic to each others' predicaments and more accepting of each others' opinions.
Most of all, we hope that, through pulling together, we'll look back at 2010 and say a collective, "Whew! We did it."
Opinion
December 31, 2009
EDITORIAL: Hope emerges for 2010
- Editorial
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Editorial: The long trail to success
We're a big fan of the Saranac River Trail and have been since its conception almost a decade ago.
- Editorial: The real reason for the holiday
- Editorial: Bright future, looking ahead
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Editorial: The long trail to success
- Cheers and Jeers
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Cheers and Jeers: May 28, 2012
JEERS to people who dump garbage at the mouth of the Saranac River, and CHEERS to cemetery caretakers.
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Cheers and Jeers: May 28, 2012
- Letters to the Editor
- Speakout
- In My Opinion
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In My Opinion: A new focus for mental well-being
The opening of Behavorial Health Services North's Center for Well-Being at 2155 State Route 22B in Morrisonville on April 23 reflects the opening of a new chapter in the story of the treatment of mental illness now under way in our country, Behavorial Health Services North CEO Harry Cook writes.
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In My Opinion: A new focus for mental well-being
