We're spoiled brats. Plain and simple. We're weepy, and worrisome, and need blue skies, nothing but blue skies because we're entitled. Things are better NOW than they've EVER been, and still the polls make us look like, well, France. The big-box stores toss small business out of business, and we rush to Wal-Mart and K-Mart and all the rest like they'll close tomorrow if we don't get there today. And bitch and moan about how bad things are. For the small companies? Yeah, sure enough. Welcome to capitalism. Or boycott Wally World.
WSJ.com - America's Real Economy
WASHINGTON -- "One puzzle these days is why Americans are so confident at the shopping mall and so glum in opinion polls. By many measures, the country's prosperity is broad-based. American families are buying and renovating homes at a ferocious pace. Sales of existing homes in 2005 are expected to reach a record 7.1 million units. Since mid-2003, the number of payroll jobs has increased by 4.2 million. The unemployment rate of 5% is low by historic standards. But in polls, Americans are downbeat. The University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence was 74.2 in October, a big drop from 96.5 in July. The three-month decline is the second largest on record (the first occurred around the 1990 recession).
In many ways, the U.S. economy is stronger now than it was then. Here are two examples. First, household net worth -- what people own minus what they owe -- is about $50 trillion, up from $42 trillion in 1999; gains from homes have more than offset losses on stocks. Second, per capita incomes (after inflation) grew almost 9% from 1999 to 2004. Living standards haven't stagnated."
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