Tradelocal started over a year ago with the mission of inspiring and empowering Charlottesville/ Albemarle Area residents to use their energy and buying power to promote local business, economy, and culture. After months of preparation and one battle with Tyrannosaurus Wal-Mart, we have a Local Business Database and Local Business Hotline that are ready to go.

One of the reasons people patronize the Big Boxes is that they can find so many things under one roof. Charlottesville has an extraordinary array of goods and services available from local vendors, but you have to know where to find them. That is why Tradelocal has launched our local business database. The database is keyword searchable. You can go to the database (at www.tradelocal.org) and find any good or service you are looking for from a local supplier. The database can also serve as a means of connecting people in the neighborhoods of Charlottesville with people who can make use of their skills. A carpenter can list a permanent ad in the database, and a contractor can find them immediately.

Not everyone has the time or resources to use the internet. That's why Tradelocal has also set up a local business hotline. Anyone can call the hotline (760-8628) during business hours and we will assist them in finding what they need at a local business.

The Super-Marts have done an excellent job of convincing everyone that their prices are cheaper. Many of the big box stores practice the classic 'bait and switch' promotions where they mark down some items and make their profits on others. Tradelocal has done some comparison shopping, and the results may surprise you. For example, Lowes is more expensive on some individual items compared to local hardware stores, and less expensive on others. If you fill a shopping cart full of painting supplies at Meadowbrook Hardware, chances are you will be paying the same or less than you would be paying at Lowes. Local merchants often specialize in specific areas, like paint supplies, and have items that the big boxes simply don't carry -- not to mention competitive prices.

What happens in our local economy is heavily influenced by decisions made by our Federal Government. Have you noticed that you are living in the longest continuous economic expansion in U.S. history? Well, you are, but that growth is not evenly distributed. In spite of such growth, we are becoming a more economically polarized society. We are wealthy as a whole, but what are we as a society choosing to do with our wealth? And who's deciding anyway?

You and I could decide, but mostly we let more powerful institutions decide. Currently, the Federal Reserve manages our economy, and they are very concerned about inflation. There are two sources of inflation. One is wages. If the work force gets paid more, and they spend that additional money in the market place, that creates inflationary pressure. The other source of inflation is large corporations who are so powerful that they can charge whatever prices they want for their goods.

Rich people don't like inflation because it makes their large piles of money much smaller. To limit inflation, the money managers in our government could choose to limit the power of corporations to charge inflationary prices for their goods. That is not what they do. Instead, they choose to deflate the entire economy by limiting the money supply and raising interest rates. This generates more unemployment, which pulls wages down (who is going to argue for more wages if they are fearful of having no job at all?), and by pulling wages down, decreases economic activity in general and reduces inflation.

What does that have to do with our current economic situation? One odd thing about the current economic boom is that wages have remained relatively stagnate even as the economy has grown rapidly - until recently that is. Wages finally started to grow last year. And the Federal Reserve? They raised interest rates in June 1999, August 1999, November 1999, and again in February 2000. This is being done is response to indications of inflation. The funny thing is that oil prices have been going up as well - which is a strong inflationary pressure. The Federal Government has thus chosen to put pressure on working people rather than oil companies. This is the way our economy is currently managed.

We can outsmart them. A dollar spent in a local economy turns over 5-6 times before it leaves town, generating employment and wealth among people who need it. Small and local companies tend to use smaller machines, less energy, less resources, and more labor. We have all seen pictures of robots used on assembly lines. Such machinery substantially increases the amount of energy and resources needed to produce an item even while decreasing labor input. Local businesses on average use less fossil fuels because they hire people instead of resource-consumptive machines.

But can we really displace the entire industrial economy with local production? No, but we can have an enormous impact on it. The food sector alone is worth 176 million dollars in sales in Albemarle County, which is more than the entire county budget. Food, clothing, furniture, building materials, all manner of services - these are all things that can be produced locally.

Several cities in the U.S. -- St. Paul MN for example -- have created 'import substitution' programs. These programs identify the goods that local businesses and governments purchase, and then seek local suppliers for these goods. As we expand our local business database, we will have the greater part of that information in hand, and will be able to create an import substitution program in Charlottesville.

Half of the households in Charlottesville do not have a computer. To reach beyond the computer, Tradelocal is going to put our local business clearinghouse on paper later this spring. The paper version, like the electronic version, will serve to connect local resources with local needs.