Black Friday. Cyber Monday. cross-border shopping. everybody's looking for the special deals that will make all those post-Christmas credit card statements just a bit easier to open.

Everyone is looking for a way to get more while spending less.

There's little thought towards a long-term view - at least not much longer than the arrival of those Christmas bills in January.

But the fact is, in the end, you always get what you pay for.

Take your money across the border into the United States, for instance, and you may save a few bucks on a gallon of gas, some milk, dry goods, and a fresh pair of shoes.

But at the same time, you're paying for economic benefits that will be enjoyed by another country - benefits that don't come back home to you.

You may be escaping paying local, provincial, and even federal taxes. but the services that those taxes pay for will have to be paid in some other way. or cut altogether.

It's simple economics.

Take your money out of Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows, and you're paying for improvements for another community, someone else's streets, someone else's schools and parks, someone else's civic services.

Money spent inside the community circulates within the community, shedding benefits as it moves around.

It's been estimated that, on average, each dollar spent locally gets spent another five times before it leaves the community, supporting the local tax base, supporting local businesses, supporting locally employed residents, and ultimately supporting the entire community.

Money is like economic blood. Constrict its circulation, and the economy stagnates. Remove it from the body - your community - and. need we say more?