'Third World America' Excerpt: Oklahoma Mother, Military Wife, And Business Owner Fights The Recession With Local Support

In Third World America, her forthcoming book about the gradual demise of the United States as an industrial, political, and economic leader, Arianna Huffington profiles middle-class American families struggling to recover from the recession. In this excerpt, Arianna writes about Lesa Deason Crowe, an Oklahoma City mother, military wife, and small business owner who almost lost her advertising firm to the recession, but has begun to bounce back with the support of other local women.

Lesa Deason Crowe, a small business owner who lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, saw the financial crisis nearly destroy her twelve-person advertising firm. "It started in the news," she recalled. "Every night, there would be another story about the recession, depression. This was in fall 2008. Clients started to get jittery and began to proactively get ready for 'disaster.' Part of that planning was to get rid of all the 'fat' in their budgets, which in my case meant cutting all advertising, marketing, and public relations work. My lowest point was when three clients quit in one day. I walked in, prepared for a typical monthly meeting, and the next thing I knew I was fired on the spot. Three in a row. Our two largest clients and our fifth largest. Gone."

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