Recession? What recession? (sarcasm)
I’m bombarded with so many contradictory things in my little world. Or maybe they are not contradictory; maybe my world is such a small sample size, and I am unable to see macroeconomics in action.
If there is one thing that is true about human behavior and spending money it is that people are irrational and make emotional purchases all the time. People will take risks, as well (spend money to make money).
Random things I am seeing right now and can back up with proof:
- The unemployment rate is still increasing. Add forced part-time workers to that or inconsistent temping, and it balloons higher.
- Trends in poor neighborhoods do not represent all of America.
- The housing market and commercial real estate market may have crashed, but there are still people buying. Same with the stock market. The rate may have fallen, but the “buy low; sell high” mentality is still high.
- We have all resigned that the economy is bad and things are slow. We need a psychological boost; it’s not going to come from a talking head expert.
- The middle-class still has disposable incomes; the stats don’t lie. People are still going to concerts, sporting events, vacations, and eating out (it’s a myth that fast food is cheap).
- Advertising dollars are still mind-boggling. Companies, small businesses, and aspiring entrepreneurs are STILL investing cold hard capital in online advertising through affiliate programs, banners, text ads, and dozens of other ways. People and companies are making tons of money online. Many people are realizing how much free promotions are on social networking, too, such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube.
- People still buy bulk wholesale and resell. And people are BUYING stuff like perfume, handbags, jewelry, shoes, vitamins, cosmetics, cell phones, and electronics. A lot of cash passes hands with reselling. Reselling is the lifeblood of ebay and similar sites.
- The lower class is suffering the worst- the elderly who live on social security checks and have no nest egg, and people who live alone have been cutting back just to survive.
- Credit cards- where would we be without them?
- School- still not affordable without a grant, still so easy to get buried in debt, so many scam colleges out there.
- The entertainment industry is truly a skewed reality: athletes, movie stars, TV stars, singers, and some radio personalities are still making money hand over fist.
- So are doctors and lawyers. By the way, I add politicians to that list, too: I’ve never seen a poor one yet.
- Traffic is HEAVY in Broward County and Dade County, Florida.
- I still see people spending $100-$200 on grocery shopping at Walmart, Publix, or Winn-Dixie on Friday evenings.
- Franchise fast food eateries and some middle-class restaurant food chains are still doing well, but it’s actually cheaper to make a brown paper bag lunch.
- I am now seeing government bids with GREEN requirements.
- For those in the lower class or for those in the precariously lower middle class- the grim reality of homelessness is still there. If you can’t pay your rent to your landlord, you’re pretty much done in this society if you don’t have family to go back to.
- Universities all around our nation are PACKED, and online courses are BOOMING. All on loans.
- Even with prices dropping in the auto industry, the consumer never wins. Never. Same with real estate. There’s always some catch- so crazy fee or interest rate or fine print.
- You must a death wish if you want to open up a restaurant in this economy. You may have the best cook in the world, and a great location but in this world, the lowest price wins.
- Industries that complain about losing money due to bootlegs are still making money (music, Hollywood, porn studios, video games, HBO, etc.)
- The newspaper industry is a dead man walking, and I am not crying over it; I haven’t bought a newspaper since 2003.
- With so much free content on the internet, advertising is the main source of revenue, and people expect free content. YET, people will gladly pay small one-time fees for ANYTHING, especially get rich quick PDFs or watching satellite channels on your computer. Others get stuck with auto-recurring “backstage passes” to some site with “special” content.
- Outsourcing- no one believes in it, but everyone is forced to do it if you run your own business.
- Spam works. Telemarketing works. There’s a sucker born every minute.
- The lower class doesn’t trust banks and saving money, and feel like they are burning a hole in their pocket if they don’t blow their paycheck before next payday.
- Most radio commercials, internet ads, and cardboard signs on the street advertising federal loans, government grants, or bailout money are usually shady.
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