Our Lyin’ Economic Eyes
I consider myself your average American guy. When I wake up I head out the front door to grab the paper and then sit down with a cup of java to read the Sports, Metro, front page and Business sections…usually in that order. I therefore know about the (alleged) dogfighting Michael Vick, that median home prices have gone up a tad lately in the O.C., that there was an earthquake in the Bay area yesterday and that the stock market is at a record high.
As to that last point, what I apparently didn’t know is that a peaking Dow Jones is not necessarily a good thing, especially if you are a liberal, Bush-hating commentator from the LA Times. Just as the left, for purely political reasons, must begin savaging Gen. David Petraeus, it must also talk down as many of the standardly-relied-upon-by-the-public economic indicators, most of which are clearly suggestive of a strong, vibrant and growing economy. All this must be done relatively soon before we great unwashed types get an inkling before the next election that things ain’t all that bad.
I’m no economic savant, but neither are 99.9% of us. We look to such things as the rate of inflation (still extraordinarily low), unemployment (still at historic lows which, some would say, approaches “full employment”–otherwise why would we need all these illegal immigrant workers), GDP (still growing steadily), personal income rates (increasing greater than inflation), job creation (usually better than predicted), etcetera to get an idea of the health of our economy. And based upon most of our standard measures, the economy is in pretty good shape.
That’s why you will begin to see more and more “analysis” of the otherwise positive numbers and a tut-tut esoteric explanation that we shouldn’t believe our lyin’ eyes.