Richard Sweum : Grading our economy on a curve!
I’m old enough to have gone to public school when many teachers still graded on a curve. I found a great deal of comfort in knowing that as I sat in the fat part of the curve, short of an “A” there were many kids in my class who were looking to their left…at me and the other kids who scored higher on the exam. Public instruction provides many opportunities for feeling good about “at least beating someone!”
Whether it is in schools, churches, income comparisons, you name it…being “at least better than _______!” provides some comfort to those of us who have fallen short of an “A”. The global economic application has made the United States’ feel pretty good about our financial quagmire because “at least we are better than Greece!” In fact, our economic situation is a great deal better than Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, et al.
Now, looking directly at the bell curve, we are quite a ways away from being on the skinny right side of the curve with all the rich kids (are there any global rich kids that don’t have their own economic problems?), but because we are so much better than the aforementioned problem nations, we are perceived to be a “safe haven” for those who hold control of the billions and billions of investment dollars out there looking for some retention of value. Side note, I remember my Grandma Nelson having Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission, World bank conspiracy propaganda littering her bookshelf…those must be the folks who have all that money…cuz I aint seen none of it!
We are muddling through a weak economic recovery which has been painfully slow in the making. However, the needle points up more than half the time, which is a success story to marvel at compared to other countries. Being that we have such a huge amount of untapped natural resources as well as military might, we are a bright shining city on a hill for those billions looking for safety. While our equity market may not be reaping 100% of the attention benefits, our bond market, both government securities as well as mortgage backed securities are in fact benefiting. Whether or not the housing recover is real or government produced is of no consequence…the fact is that more homes are being sold than the year prior, more housing starts are being seen, AND more buyers are entering the market albeit at a slower pace than 2002-2006…largely because you actually have to have an income to qualify for a loan!
I will take being a loan officer in the United States over being the same in France, or even Germany. Whatever our woes might be as we approach ever more closely to the “Fiscal Cliff,” they are not as bad as other places around their world. And as far as it goes with economic matters…the bell curve is still the standard, and again with all things economic...perception becomes reality and a weak recovery is better than no recovery at all!
Richard Sweum : Grading our economy on a curve!
Comments(0)