Economy on edge

Marc Malin, owner of a small auto repair business in Yakima, knows exactly whom to blame for the banking mess that dominates his nightly news.

“I blame the borrower for being stupid, the banks for taking advantage of that stupidity and the government for being complacent,” said the 49-year-old owner of Bosler’s Automotive on Third Street in Yakima’s near east side.

Puffing on a stubby cigar as he explains the intricacies of headlight wiring to a salesman, Malin reflected the kind of working person’s outrage shared by many local people over the proposed $700 billion taxpayer bailout for financial institutions that took big risks on the mortgage industry.

“It’s all about money and greed. There’s no responsibility,” Malin said in an impromptu interview Tuesday, peppering his remarks with expletives.

The notion that working people should rescue big corporations when they make bad business decisions was a universal theme around town, regardless of income, education or social status.

Malin bought the shop eight years ago on contract from the previous owner and said it’s a struggle to generate enough volume to pay outstanding bills of about $8,000.

Fear isn’t accompanying the anger; not yet, anyway. Most people who were interviewed by the Herald-Republic on Tuesday believe their local banks are safe and say the problem is limited to a few highfliers on Wall Street.

But they are worried the economy will worsen and that a recession is around the corner.

Tracy Frank, who sells used cars at A.C. Auto in Yakima, said he sees evidence of the credit crunch every day. “If people aren’t paying their mortgages, they’ve already stopped paying their car loans,” he said.

With seven children, Frank said every day is a challenge. “It’s real tight right now,” he said.

Wilma and Bob Dlouhy retired to Thorp from the Seattle area 20 years ago after Bob sold his electrical contracting business. Despite the spate of bad news from Wall Street the past several days, the Dlouhys aren’t too worried about their investment income, but they don’t want any of their tax dollars spent on someone else’s bad assets.

“I’m just hoping if they (Congress) do it, they limit the severance pay for the CEOs,” said Wilma, 76, who retired as an administrative assistant at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Bob, 80, moved to Washington state as a child when his parents tried to escape the Dust Bowl in Nebraska, followed by the Great Depression. He remembers government rationing.

“Our kids have never endured anything like that,” he said, loading a bag of bird seed into their SUV. He added that another similar-sized Depression could be in the works because the world financial markets are so intertwined.

Jenn Oliver, 35, may not have lived through the Depression, but she has heard the concern from Washington about a collapse of the nation’s financial system. Still, she is against a bailout. “I used to be in the banking industry, and for the government to step in and bail them out after the mess they’ve created is wrong,” she said.

Now the chief financial officer for a local marketing company, Oliver said she’s not worried about her investments. The sputtering stock market is an opportunity to buy some stocks on the cheap, she said.

Some local home buyers aren’t letting the mortgage market stop their dreams of owning a home.

Leroy Sanders, 79, lives on Social Security but was recently able to buy a home on Castlevale Road through an owner’s contract. As for the proposed bailout by Congress, Sanders, like others, doesn’t see the problem hitting Yakima.

“I think it’s just a New York problem,” he said.

 Felipe Sanchez, 33, a delivery truck driver, is a little more nervous about the banks but said he lives paycheck to paycheck anyway. “If they want to give me a bailout, I will take it,” he joked.

Back at the auto repair shop, Malin said he has no faith that either of the two major parties will make a difference in the country’s economic future.

 “It’s like Ford and Chevy,” he said, comparing Democrats and Republicans. “We’ve been looking for change for 50 years. Nothing changes.”

• Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com

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