Life in "Redville"

The past few weekends, the Gekko's have done a few day trips to some of God's country here in Ohio.

Let me offer, if you get a chance to go to Hocking Hills, Clifton Gorge, Hueston Woods during the color change you really have to make the trek.

As we've gone on these trips, I really can't help but wax nostalgic as we stop into small towns like Nelsonville or Cedarville and really feel at ease in those communities.

It's funny how growing up, all I could think about was getting out of Lancaster into the city.

Ahhhh, the city, with it's lively sophistication........... and crime and poverty and unemployment and horrible schools.

As I've grown older, I've started to learn that all those small town lessons, the things eastern elite ridiculed Sarah Palin for, is where the brains are. Because there's a true understanding of human nature aka common sense.

So when I hear of Harvard University losing billions on derivative swaps all I can hear is my dad telling me "if you can't write a deal on the back of a cocktail napkin, it's too complicated"

Or one of my farmer clients who joked about the cash for clunkers "So we're going to take perfectly good cars and demolish them so now poor people won't have cars to buy. That sounds like a good idea".

Or another client who was watching this for sale sign going up next door to his house. "They're putting that sign in real deep, that tells me they don't plan to move it anytime soon!"

Or this small business owner who told me "now they're going to penalize small businesses for not offering health insurance, and the penalty will be cheaper than the insurance, and the workers get coverage without all the paperwork, let me guess what those businesses are going to do".

Of course, you do not always run into small town sensibility in say, Yellow Springs, where old hippies move to get ready for the next revolution.

I've noticed that the signs on the shops have gone from "products made in this store do not come from sweatshops" to "products made in this store come from vendors who pay a living wage to their workers".

It's funny how none of them seem to mind that I may have made my money exploiting the poor while I look at a $125 vase. Or that the lovely Mrs. Gekko makes her money in big medical as she's contemplating the purchase of a $200 jacket made of hemp.

Regardless, if you want a life surrounded by common sense pack up and head to the hills.