Despite Sagging Economy, “Hook-Ups” Thrive

As the major stock indexes continue to hover near multi-year lows, one segment of the economy has risen above this economic downturn. “Hook-ups,” the informal currency of the nation’s urban centers, has become for many a currency more popular than cash.

Ronald Burke, a car wash attendant in Atlanta, Georgia says that in lieu of tips he has begun to operate almost exclusively on a “hook-up” basis. “You know I used to get fellas coming through all the time dropping me a 10, or a 20, sometimes even a 50 [dollar bill] if they wanted to impress a lady. Now these doods come through asking if they can hit me back later. I got mad at first, but then I started telling them to just hook it up when I need them to.”

Burke says he was initially skeptical, but later realized the benefits of the new system. “Now I got the hookup everywhere. My boy Big Mike down at Subway just hooked me up with a $5 foot long for the job I did on his Navigator, Pootie down the street hooked up some T.I. tickets the other week, and my man down at the club hooks up the 2 for 1 every night. It’s a whole lot better than the change I used to hold down.”

But while this new “hook-up” based economy may benefit some, critics say it hurts the national economy as a whole. “You have these people benefiting from a system which, well let’s call it what it is, it’s nothing but stealing. That certainly counteracts any upward gains the economy struggles to make,” says Dr. Stephen Whiteman of the National Economics Institute.

The facts seem to bolster Whiteman’s claim. A “hook-up” transaction, in which an employee of a business grants special purchases or privileges to a friend or family member in exchange for other in kind services, tends to hurt the bottom line of most companies. Over the past 2 years “hook-ups” have accounted for 85 percent of urban transactions, nevertheless the vast majority of the “hooked-up” goods and services failed to appear on any official inventory documents. This represents a total loss for businesses. But some will tell you that the economic impact of hook-ups is nearly irrelevant.

“Where was economics when I lost half my paycheck? Where was economics when they took Mom’s pension? Oh, it wasn’t nowhere then, but now that I got something it’s all up in my grill,” Burke says.

Indeed, his family’s financial situation has grown quite grim over the past few years. Last year, Burke lost his job at an auto assembly plant, a job he had held for 12 years. Shortly thereafter he moved in with his ailing mother as a result of her pension being swallowed by medical bills.

But with the incoming presidential administration seemingly comes a new sense of optimism to the nation’s urban centers. While in the past, politicians’ words have gone unlistened to in these areas, the Obama administration seems to command a new type of authority stemmed from an authenticity never before realized in urban America.

Burke initially said that he had only a passing knowledge of the president’s plans and promises on healthcare and the economy, but when given the details his mood suddenly changed. “Obama said that? Straight up? Damn… well I guess that boy just hooked me up with some of that hope. On the real.”

While Burke appears momentarily lifted by Obama’s rhetoric, it won’t be long until reality once again steps in. Living up to the rhetoric is a bit more complicated than hooking up a $5 foot long Subway sandwich. Hopefully, for the sake of billions of people around the world affected by the economy, the Obama administration will be able to “hook-up” an economic fix, with as much ease and finesse as Big Mike down at the Subway.

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