Over Christmas my family and I took a two week cruise in the Caribbean.  We stopped in Puerto Rico, the U.S and British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Dominica, Barbados, Antigua, St. Martin and the Bahamas.   One of the things I like to do when I travel is to observe how people make their livings.  For example, one gentleman we met in Dominica makes his living by showing tropical fruits to tourists and giving them a taste.  They tip him and he makes sufficient for his needs.  How many of you have actually seen or tasted a cocoa bean.  He even gave us a combination of roasted bean and coconut which, not surprisingly, tasted like an Almond Joy - just with a very different texture.

I spent a lot of my time talking to the people I met in each country - especially our drivers.   Most of these islands are heavily dependent on tourism.  Some of them also have agricultural industries.  Thus, the drivers may have their own little farms that they work in the off season and then they drive tourists during high season.   Some islands, in contrast, have very little land which is suitable for farming.  Those islands are very dependent on tourism.

It was interesting how well the people on these islands understand basic economics.  Several indicated that they were already making cutbacks.  They understood that when the U.S. economy heads south, the tourists will be in shorter supply.  Some of them had already calculated how much business will be off for 2009 based simply on the last couple of months.  (Apparently guys who drive taxis in the Caribbean are better at basic economics that some of the geniuses on Wall Street).

It really brought home how economically interdependent we are.  If our economy tanks, so will the economy of Dominica which relies on American tourists.  Likewise, China will suffer when American imports less which, in turn, will make it harder for China to buy our debt to finance our economic stimulus package.

While some may have little sympathy for those who tried to borrow their way to prosperity, they are likely to create a fair amount of pain for others, even those who have lived well within their means. 

One important lesson we should all draw from this is to have economic diversity.  Utah is not feeling the effects as harshly because we have thousands of small employers rather than a few of the big boys like the auto industry.  Entreprenuerism is at the heart of Utah's economy and our politicians should try to keep it that way.