Word: repairable
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...literally dusted off a decade-old pair of ragged black leather boots sitting in her closet and visited a shoe-repair shop for the first time in her life. For a fashion-conscious woman, the thought of recycling clothing hurt her pride a bit. "I walked in with my tail between my legs," she says. "It was something, initially, I was not proud of." Then she saw the price: $16. And the work: the boots looked as good as new. "I walked out of there going, 'O.K., all right,'" Thorsen says. She proudly wore her healed heels...
...consumers cut back on big-ticket purchases this year, many fix-it folks are busier than ever. Whyspend money on new shoes, suits or SUVs when it's so much cheaper to repair the ones you already have? Around the country, cobblers, tailors, car mechanics and bike, vacuum, watch and television repairers are reporting strong revenues during the recession. Jim McFarland, a third-generation shoe repairman, who owns McFarland's Shoe Repair in Lakeland, has fought many anxiety bouts in his 23 years running the shop. "I've spent nights pacing my floor at 2, 3 in the morning, wondering...
...McFarland says his year-over-year revenues rose 28% in December and 35% in January. "I'd love to see a 50% jump in February," he says. As the historian for the Shoe Service Institute of America, the cobbler trade group, McFarland tracks local media stories on shoe-repair performance and talks to hundreds of shop owners throughout the country. He says cobblers are reporting increases in the range of 25% to 40% during the fourth quarter of 2008 and early '09. (See a gallery of Olympic shoe designs...
...being spent. Next, a $1.1 billion government study, funded as part of the stimulus package, will take that information and figure out which treatments get the best outcomes for the least money. Which makes more sense for a clavicle fracture: a simple sling and waiting six weeks or surgical repair with a stainless-steel plate? The final step could be to create a federal health-care board that would shape Medicare- and Medicaid-reimbursement plans based on those studies...
...meantime, Congress will work with the Obama Administration to fix those parts of our government that went off course. But to repair the damage of the past eight years and restore America's reputation and standing in the world, we should not simply turn the page without being able first to read it. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll showed that more than 60% of Americans agree that investigating the failed national-security policies of the past eight years should be considered...