It would be real easy to panic these days considering the economic straits the United States has found itself in. The government keeps coming up with ideas and solutions that cost billions and billions of dollars — which will have to be paid back by our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren and for generations after that — but the markets aren’t buying it.

The stock market is a fickle beast. But lately it is reflecting increased concern that the nation is sinking deeper into recession and that no bailout plan can refloat it soon.

There’s plenty of reason for that worry. In America, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are coordinating a monumental effort to recapitalize ailing banks and shore up the financial system against waves of fear that threaten to dry up credit.

The concern has spread to Europe, where banks are beginning to shake and fall. The European Union has no equivalent of the Treasury Department to coordinate a bailout, so individual countries are scrambling to guarantee deposits in an effort to head off runs on their banks.

Trouble abroad could cut U.S. exports and slow U.S. factories, and exports have been one of the few bright spots in the American economy this year.

The banking debacle is a year old, but until recently it had had only a limited impact on the rest of the U.S. economy. In fact, the economy grew for the first six months of the year, and unemployment numbers were minor by the standards of past recessions.

Now that’s starting to change.

Auto companies saw sales drop 16 percent to 33 percent last month in the United States, largely because many buyers can’t get loans.

That’s a sure-fire predictor of a significant recession, and the markets are reflecting it. The price of oil also keeps dropping. Oil is now off nearly 40 percent from its high of last summer; traders are betting that a suffering economy will decrease demand.

Another big indicator of recession: a report that 159,000 Americans lost jobs in September.

The Federal Reserve Board and Treasury Department have taken unprecedented steps to halt the panic. The Fed is pumping billions into the credit system to stop it from seizing up, and the Treasury has embarked on a direct bailout of banks.

So far Wall Street is not impressed. But at this point, nothing may prevent a significant recession.

So, what to do? The one thing that must happen — has to happen — is we must continue supporting our local merchants. We must continue to invest our shopping dollars into those businesses that have invested their dollars and the lives of their owners and employees into making this a better community for all. For they are the ones who supply the jobs for your family, friends and neighbors. They are the ones who support United Way, the ball teams and scores of other quality-of-life events in Vicksburg. We should buy our groceries here, our clothes here, our gifts here, our automotive parts here. If dining out, we should do it here.

We agree that some things are cheaper to buy out of town or online. But once those dollars leave your wallet and are spent outside Vicksburg, then they are gone forever. Dollars spent in Vicksburg will keep circulating… from your wallet to an employee’s paycheck to a pair of pants to another employee’s paycheck to a slice of pizza and on and on. Every dollar spent locally helps us all.

And that is going to be the key to getting through these tough times. We support each other.

Shop locally. It is one investment that will never fail to pay off.