Pundits are surprised by the public's perceptions of the economy...
GDP growth is reasonably strong, yet people think the economy is in recession... So is it Iraq? Or Katrina? Or the punk job growth? Wassup?
Clearly, the economy is like the blind men describing an elephant... Since the blind men can't "see" the whole elephant...they only "percieve" that part they are touching NOW.
Consider:
If you are a health care worker...you are probably doing OK. If you are a public sector worker, ditto, although you had to forego a couple of pay raises by now. If you are a mortgage broker or otherwise in Real Estate...so far so good.
On the other hand, if you are in ANY KIND of manufacturing or production work...you're in trouble... Downsizing and Outsourcing is the name of the game. China is eating your lunch.
Business services and help desk are being sent to India in droves. Travel and airlanes are disaster areas.
And I.T...? If you're still working you must be lucky, or doing some drudge work that no one else has time for, or have a rare skill that they haven't figured out how to farm out yet...but don't worry they're working on it.
Restaurant and Bars are still hiring...mainly to handle the overworked dual income households who are still trying to hold on to middle class lifestyles. (50k+50k=100k)
If you're a "redundant boomer" you're pretty much doomed... And NO, opening a business is probably not going to work out.
NET NET THERE IS NOT "ONE ECONOMY"...THERE IS ONLY "YOUR ECONOMY"
...EVERYONE IS LIKE THE BLIND MAN DESCRIBING THE ELEPHANT THESE DAYS...
The real problem is that those "favored sectors" above are probably living on borrowed time...AND BORROWED MONEY! The economy works best when ALL SECTORS are operating in sync...and the income distribution is lubricating the whole economy.
Today that's not happening...and that's why the COLLAPSE SCENARIO is almost inevitable.
Or put another way: The Rich get richer, and the Poor get Jesus. It's the best of times and the worse of times...
Have a Dickenisan Xmas!
