As of this morning, seventy percent (70%) of Americans believe the U.S. economy is in a recession, but 13% say it is not (Rasmussen). This might be a matter semantics so let’s look at some the descriptive terms used or abused: Dismal, Bad, Ugly, stagnant, comatose, horrible, terrible. Maybe Americans are hypnotized by the repetitive din of the media’s negative spin on everything and that’s why phrases like “Great Recession”, “Jobless Recovery” and “in ‘this’ terrible economy” exist.
A really bad economy might have these traits:
One would rarely (if ever) wait in line for $4.30 gasoline
Gas stations closing due to lack of demand
Starbucks having net store closures, net layoffs
Costco (Sam’s Club) parking lot would be less than half full on any weekend
One could easily find an empty parking space in the front two rows of Costco.
One would rarely (if ever) experience a traffic jam
One would rarely wait in line at any grocery store
Families would cut off their cable TV subscriptions
There would be little or no demand for home electronics (Fry’s would be half emptied of merchandise)
Ask yourself if any of these traits are present today. See if you agree that they could potentially exist? That is what a “really bad economy” would look like and it “could” happen.
Instead, I see demand out on the streets:
People waiting in line for $4.30 Gasoline
A line of customers 15-20 deep at Fry’s checkout
Completely full parking lot at La Jolla Village Square
Always a line at Starbucks (sometimes 10 deep) during morning hours
The same average wait in line at Ralph’s checkout (as compared to 2006)
I’m parking at a the very back of the Costco parking lot on weekends
Stop and go traffic on I-5 on a Friday morning (10:30 AM)
People actually spend $100 per month on cable TV subscriptions
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