The Perpetual Bad Economy
I heard today a story about a friend of a friend who refinanced her house and pulled cash out to prepare for the recession that’s coming. She was convinced that because Walmart and Target had reported drops in profits for April that a recession was the only place left for this “bad economy” to go.
So how bad is the economy? Well, let’s look at the indicators. At the time of this writing, the Dow is above 13,000. That points to a pretty darn good economy. As of about a week ago unemployment is down around 4.5%. Since 6% is considered static for unemployment, that indicates a pretty strong economy. As of just a few weeks ago, CNN was reporting skyrocketing business profits. So, explain to me again how the economy is bad?
The truth is, it isn’t. So if the economy is so good, why does it look so bad? This question has perplexed me for quite some time. I used to chalk it up to good old liberal bias in the media. That could be a part of it, but it goes much deeper than that.
We have a serious lack of personal accountability in this country. The majority of people can not come to terms with the fact that they are where they are for a reason. Good or bad, you live where you live, and you make what you make because of the decisions you have made in life up to this point. Let that statement marinate for a minute. It is a very simple, very basic truth that most people don’t accept.
They all have stories to back it up too. How they got screwed out of a promotion or they can’t find a good job because of this or that. So the majority of the population is hurting for money and won’t accept that it’s their fault. Have you ever tried to tell them that? I have. And let me tell you, most of the time, it doesn’t go well.
Enter the main stream media. Their job is to report the news, but, as they say, it’s all about the Benjamins baby. If the msm told people that the economy is great and average Joe is broke due to his own vices, average Joe would tune out. So the msm looks for any shred of bad economic news and blows it way out of proportion so average Joe can sleep well at night knowing that it’s not his fault he’s broke, it’s the economy.
Actually there is a school of thought that says if Wal-Mart sales are flat that is actually a good sign for the economy.
The reasoning is that when times are tough, people who normally avoid Wal-Mart go there to save money, thereby increasing store sales. That and I think I remember reading that high-end chains were doing well lately, would tend to prove the theory.
Of course, you could also take the other tack and say the rich are doing fine and the poor, who frequent Wal-Mart, are the ones hurting.
You’re right, the lack of personal accountability in virtually all areas of life has been a problem that only seems to grow. But, blaming someone else has always been easier than blaming yourself.
May 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pmTodd -
I have to say I think you’re dead on on this one.
I remember many years ago when I was a restaurant manager and my people would complain to me that health insurance was so expensive they couldn’t afford it. But there was always money for beer and cigarettes.
Then when they had a doctor’s appointment or car trouble it always took an entire day to complete or fix the problem. If I suggested they might want to schedule doctor’s appointments early or late in the day so they could still work some or fix their car in the evening after work so they wouldn’t miss work they thought I was insensitive and a hard case.
When I pointed out they were already going to be losing money on parts and mechanics or an office visit and asked why they’d choose to also miss a day of work and lose even MORE money they just didn’t get it.
I finally figured out they were either lying or they weren’t bright enough to understand reality. Either way, because of their choices they’d likely be in dead end jobs for the rest of their lives. For the most part, that evaluation has proven valid for over 20 years.
Thanks for pointing out what should be obvious but often isn’t.
Blue Collar Muse
May 13th, 2007 at 6:48 pmThanks for the comments guys. My wife had a very keen observation on this point yesterday. Walmart rolled out all their summer products in March/April. Shorts, t-shirts, kid pools, water toys etc. Then we had a cold snap nearly nation wide. Of course sales dropped. Who wants to buy a slip and slide when it’s snowing outside?
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