I notice that the headlines about the economy are getting more and more desperate in trying to convince us all just how horribly the sky is falling. Most of the numbers being published now about job losses and the economic downturn are from November and December. These numbers certainly tell us something about what was happening at that time but they are not predictors of what will happen next. The irony of the media continuing to flog old numbers confirming that the economy took a hit is that these same people have no idea what is coming and that's why we're not seeing anything specific about when things will improve.
They could be improving right now but we won't know until January's numbers are analyzed and published.
Apparently I'm not the only one out there who is feeling optimistic about things contrary to how the media would like me to feel (see this article about surprising consumer confidence numbers in December). I'm not saying that I am not trying to be cautious - per my New Year's resolution I'm working on cleaning up my credit cards, but realistically, I would be trying to do that whatever the economy was doing.
This week one of the articles that made me chuckle a bit was about how the increase in gas prices was going to hurt consumers. This increase was from around 65 cents per litre to 74 cents per litre or a 9 cent per litre increase. Yes, this is a significant increase but it seems like the media has lost sight of the fact that at one point we were paying over $1.35 per litre and we're a long ways from that right now. I do prefer paying less at the pump but I find it funny that at it's highest we weren't hearing a lot about how those gas prices were an indicator of a slumping economy - we were still in an economic party-time apparently. I kind of felt like we were just paying for someone else's party.
It would be nice if the media would lay off telling us that the world is going to come to a crashing end when they don't know what's coming next. There are people out there who are truly suffering from job loss, housing value decreases and stock market crashes and I feel for them.
But I get the impression that months after the economy has improved, the media will be reacting in shock and telling us that it may not last...they're the glass half empty people who always have to tell you the story of the guy who won the lottery and got hit by a bus the next day when you tell them about your own win. I think we all need to remember that they are only able to report was has happened and not what is going to happen - especially since even they admit that this downturn is not following a pattern of any previous downturn.
Have you ever seen little kids playing soccer or hockey? And they're all chasing the puck or ball as a gaggle and when it changes direction they kind of stumble over each other and it takes them a minute to all get turned around and head the other way? Media reporting feels a lot like that to me.
As with most things in life, I think people need to trust their guts. And apparently in December our guts were telling us it was ok to shop...mine told me it was ok to buy new boots on sale this week. And I wasn't the only one out shopping. Those short brown suede boots don't just go with a lot of brown work wear in my closet...they're me showing confidence in our ability to recover....you can show your support with shoes, groceries or whatever makes you happy!
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