By Lance Thompson
Recently I overheard a neighbor proudly showing his new truck to the guy next door. In response to appropriate appreciation, the new truck owner made this statement: I refuse to participate in the recession.
Slowly, the wisdom of this profound statement sank in. A recession, like any other manifestation of mass hysteria, requires participation to continue. People must have faith in a recession, must contribute to it, must convert others to believe in it. Otherwise, the recession would collapse for lack of support.
How do we know there is a recession in the first place? The media, bearer of all dire tidings, tell us so. It is clear to most Americans, based on a recent poll that rates the media among the least trustworthy of institutions, that those who bring us the news have an agenda. Part of that agenda is to elect Barack Obama. To achieve that end, the media must convince Americans that the economy is in a nosedive, so that we will seek relief from the junior varsity Senator from Illinois.
The media keep the news about rising gas prices, falling home prices, massive layoffs and the weakening dollar in the headlines and on the tops of the newscasts. There is no pessimistic economic indicator that doesn’t rate its own computer graphic, economic victim interview, and concerned look from the news reader.
Falling home prices certainly affect all homeowners. Journalists and commentators point to the phenomenon as proof of a worsening economy. However, when home values were rising just a few years ago, the exact opposite situation, the media were characterizing that as bad news as well. Even though rising home values added billions to the net worth of American homeowners, the media concentrated instead on the diminishing percentage of Americans who could afford the average home–the negative side of rising home values. Likewise, as home values fall, you will not hear reports in the media about the increasing affordability of homes. As prices come down, a larger percentage of the population can afford to buy homes, but this aspect is ignored by recession cheerleaders.
Economists gain access to the media and notoriety by volunteering their views on the coming recession. If you’re an economist with a doom and gloom forecast, you can be booked on a network show faster than an Olympic gold medalist. But The Wall Street Journal recently featured a story about foreign investors from Abu Dhubai buying the Chrysler building. This is a structure whose value is inextricably tied to the value of American commercial real estate. It is not an asset that can be purchased and shipped to the Middle East like some other token of wealth. Buying the Chrysler building is an $800 million bet on the future health of the United States economy. The views of economists are interesting, but none of them are playing with their own money.
High fuel prices impact everyone, but there are benefits to four dollar gas as well. Chrysler is spending almost $2 billion to retool a Detroit plant to build fuel-efficient, car-based SUV’s. It is a major investment in Michigan, which has been losing manufacturing jobs to other states for a generation. Boeing’s fuel-efficient 787 is the best-selling new airliner in history, with airlines around the world clamoring for the gas-sipping jet. High fuel costs have made Americans trade in gas guzzlers for fuel-efficient hybrids, and made American corporations increase their energy efficiency. Those habits will continue.
It’s not all good news, of course. Some people are doing well and some are having a tough time, which is pretty much the way things have always been. Most people’s relationship to the economy is intimate rather than general. The recession is a generalization, and certainly a subjective assessment. Not everybody is out of work, not every home is in foreclosure, not every business is going under–although that’s the way it looks on the news.
From personal observation, I see signs of a very healthy economy. My mother’s real estate office in Sacramento, a city with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, has seen business increase dramatically in the last two months. We have friends in Colorado who have added a premium zip-line attraction to their resort, and their business has doubled since last year. My wife, who recruits animators and visual effects artists for movies, has never been busier helping studios hire talented individuals.
There’s no such thing as a recession that affects everyone equally. There are challenges and opportunities in every economic situation. No matter what the media are talking about, people everywhere are starting or running businesses, looking for employment or employees, making investments in their homes, families or businesses. The principles that govern these activities don’t change just because the media says the economic sky is falling.
So I will gladly join my neighbor and refuse to participate in what the media wants us to believe is a recession. I’ll continue to do my job, pay the mortgage, buy groceries and gas, and put something away for a rainy day, as most people do most of the time. And I look forward to the day when the purveyors of gloomy economic forecasts will learn firsthand about economic reality by looking for work themselves.
to 6 percent -- that means that that 94 percent of Americans are employed -- while unemployment throughout most of the world -- including the "other" industrialized nations averages double digits.
Good news in "the worst economy in the last 50 years" cannot be reported until a Democrat is elected President. Then, the economy and homelessness will both be solved. -- immediately.
Much maligned for his suggestion that the American public go about their business following 9/11, a recession was prevented by the American people going about their lives.