Barber Shop Wisdom

I got my hair (what little there is of it) cut yesterday at the local barber shop. Larry's has been there for decades, as has its proprietor - Larry, of course.

Larry and his shop are throwbacks to a simpler America. It's like a living, breathing time capsule. It's not a salon, and Larry is not a stylist. He's a barber. Larry knows most of his customers by name, and tells the same old corny old jokes while he works. The peanut gallery usually contains a few old farts who just hang out there passing the time. I almost expect them to start whittling.

Yesterday was a typical day. The crowd consisted of a couple of contractors getting their hair cut during their lunch break, a small businessman, a young father with his kids, a middle-aged office worker, two old farts, and me. Two of the patrons were Hispanic, the rest were white. It was a fairly representative sample of our small town.

Usually the banter is free-flowing, inclusive, and good-natured. For example, the young father had brought in his son for a trim. The kid looked to be about four or so, and behaved like you would expect a 4-year-old to behave. Fidgeting, squirming, asking questions, the whole bit. At one point dad told the kid "You're going to get your hair cut just like the man in the chair." The kid turned and looked at the current occupant of the barber's chair - one of the contractors, a big, husky, well-built deeply tanned guy who obviously spent a lot of time doing manual labor outdoors. When the kid looked up at him the contractor promptly started whimpering and saying "Ouch - that really hurts." The kid's eyes got as big as silver dollars and he tried to hide behind his father while the rest of us, his dad included, cracked up.

Maybe you had to be there to appreciate it, but is was funny.

Anyway, as you might expect, the topic de jour was the debt ceiling mess and obama's Monday night speech. The unanimous opinion was that the speech was a joke, the debt ceiling debacle was a joke, and the partisan squabbling about it was a joke. Although obama received the majority of the derision - with good cause - there was general agreement that both sides are scum-sucking politicians concerned more about their selfish interests than what's good for the country (sample comment - "How is congress like a garden? It's full of blooming idiots").

The barbershop crowd's general position was that we have to live on a budget and within our means. The government should do so as well. The consensual solution was significant cuts to government spending and meaningful tax reform- NOT tax increases.

I think this is a pretty good reflection of what main street America is thinking. I know it reflects what just about everyone I know is thinking...