Did you see how much the market lost today? It’s become an almost daily worry for millions of Americans.

In an almost seemingly unending series of declines, the stock market has been dipping for months.

It took another large hit on Wednesday.

Generally, discussions of the markets usually end with something along the lines of “There’s nothing you can really do about it.”

And that’s true, at least about the global markets.

But here at home, you can do something to help keep things moving.

You can shop at home this year for Christmas.

Economists are predicting it’s likely to be a horrible year for many retailers, but then again, some of these same “experts” have missed the mark as they’ve declared the end to the misery of investors.

The fact is that while the national stock market is driven by large global trends and emotion, most recently fear, the local markets are driven by each of us.

For a local store, a great Christmas may not require a billion-dollar bailout. A great Christmas might just be seeing a few more local faces shopping in their stores rather than exporting our money to places like Baton Rouge, Jackson or Monroe.

For years, we’ve heard people talk about the “brain drain” in which the youngest and smartest among our youth tend to leave the area for work. Well, we’d suggest that this is the year to stop the Miss-Lou Market Migration.

Let’s shop at home this year.