...and I believe it. But my Personal Economic Indicators indicate a booming economy.
I dislike shopping in the best of times, and December is not the most pleasant of months to shop, even when one doesn't have to deal with heavy coats and boots. Yet sometimes need will drive me out to the stores, and I had hoped that with all the bad news about unemployment and and bankruptcies and poor retail sales, there might come compensation in the form of a less-crowded shopping experience.
But I went out today, and all indications are of an economic boom in full swing. Very heavy traffic in the middle of the afternoon—I didn't think it could get worse, but proved myself wrong by still being on the road when rush hour began—and stores full of shoppers. Buyers, too, if the checkout lines were any indication.
If this is the situation in bad times, how will we handle the good? Our main road (not highway) is already 6-8 lanes wide. How much shopping, and driving, do people have to indulge in for the economists to stop saying "consumer confidence is down"?
