Try God

I have an acquaintance who builds handmade furniture somewhere in the wilds of New England. He sells it from Boston to Chicago for thousands of dollars. During the last couple of recessions I’ve had the chance to talk to him – and ask him how the downturn was affecting him.
The answer has always been: “The people who buy my stuff don’t stop buying in recessions. They seem to be immune.” The same has been true on Rodeo Drive and Fifth Avenue. There has always been a stratum of society that just never seems to get laid off or cut back.
Maybe not this time. Happened to catch something on the internet this morning – before the DOW took its 800 point dive today. It was a list of stocks that have been hammered recently. It included American Express, Tiffany’s and Walt Disney, especially the theme parks.
Those, especially Tiffany’s and AmEx, are money names. Their customers fly first class and shop Fifth Avenue from limousines. Ouch. When those people start to cut back, and the stocks of companies that cater to them take major hits, something real is going on out there.
Let’s talk about Disney theme parks for a moment. The last time I visited Disney World – it was during the off-season in February – I started taking a count of foreign visitors I met. In one day, I met a family from Japan who were there for two weeks. There was a couple from England there for the second time in two years. A Spanish family. A bevy of girls from Argentina for their Sweet Fifteenth birthdays.
On top of that I’ve forgotten how many American states were represented – in just my brief conversations. It was a large slice of affluent (not necessarily rich) America and the rest of the planet. Disney World, Disney Land, Euro-Disney and all the rest are universal draws.
Tens of thousands of people who could afford to fly or drive there and stay for the better part of a week or more. In the off season. Now they are holding back – in large enough numbers to depress the stock.
Speaking of travelers who no longer do – the Wyndham Hotel group (include Ramada, Days Inn and Super 8) took a sobering hit, right in the stocks. They have 6,550 hotels in fifty-nine countries. That’s a lot of business travel that isn’t happening right now.
The bailout is signed. It’s in place. All the markets in the world went down today--in large and unpleasant numbers. The DOW dropped 800 points before gaining about half of it back at the end of the day. But it was still below 10,000 at closing.
Okay, what’s next? The bailout hasn’t restored confidence. Five houses across the street from me are still for sale – one of them has been listed for over a year. In another one, the family just moved in last year. The sign went up two weeks ago.
What does George Bush do now? What does Barack Obama or John McCain recommend? What do we all do now?
I thought of Walter Hoving this evening. He’s the man who took over Tiffany and Company in 1955 when it had sales of $7 million a year. (It also had Truman Capote and Audrey Hepburn – but I doubt if they ever did serve breakfast.) When Hoving stepped down in 1980, sales were $100 million.
He knew how to do something right. When President Kennedy wanted to reward the staff that worked with him during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he wanted to give them all a nice Lucite Calendar Memento. Hoving said, “Tiffany’s doesn’t do plastic.” So Kennedy went silver.
He made the country go silver. Gold. Diamonds. He made one exception to his rule about selling no silver plate, only sterling. He sold a little pin that had a favorite slogan of his on it. He wanted this to be mass market. He also had the motto mounted and placed on his desk. This might be a time to remember Mr. Hoving’s little suggestion.
“Try God.”