The Economy: Doom or Boom?

Well, clearly we are not in a boom economy.  To a degree however, I believe that a perception of a doom economy is a mindset. 

Media:  "The sky is falling.  The sky is falling.  The sky is falling.  The sky is falling.  The sky is falling".

"Hey Jack, is the sky falling?"

"Yeah, the sky is falling."

A couple of weeks ago, Rosemary and I visited three bicycle shops in the area.  The sky clearly wasn't falling.  We were in each store an average of fifteen minutes.  In that time the clerk who waited on us mentioned, unprovoked, how busy they had been before and after Christmas.  This registered as very significant because obviously this was what was on their minds. 

Note to bike shop owners:  We ended up purchasing our bikes from a person who, in spite of the crowd, was friendly and helpful (more on this shop in another post).  In one New Tampa shop, whose name I will not mention, Rosemary and I stood directly in front of the counter, only to watch the clerks wait on two people who came in after us.  I didn't notice one person working there that day who I thought wanted to be there.

Also, an acquaintance of mine mentioned how he and his wife had shopped in a large Orlando hobby store and it was wall to wall people.  The person who waited on them had commented how slammed with business the store had been.

Finally, in one last unscientific observation - there was a RV show at the Florida State Fairgrounds last week.  Newspapers reported how unusually brisk traffic was and that quite a few RV's were selling each day.

Undoubtedly were are not in the best of economic times right now.  I choose to remain positive however, and not buy into the media-induced hype of a bad economy. 

Comments

[John F.]

To me, the "gloom economy" are the businesses and corporate interests that have grown too big for their britches. It's been writing on the wall for the last 7 years. While media, airliners, banks and the auto industry kept consolidating, growing bigger and bigger -- they started stressing under the weight of their own size. The stock market kept going UP but these same companies kept having to shed personnel while they kept growing.

I see this as a time of innovation. A prime opportunity to show size doesn't matter- but the ability to innovate does. Most companies that have fallen on hard times either could not comprehend how to innovate (Media General and a lot of print media) or refused to and wanted the status quo (auto industry - which fought against clean air standards.

Hobby stores and bike shops don't have shareowners and wall street to worry about, they also will be accountable if something you get from them fails. The bank industry and other behemoths pass the buck on these issues and keep stockholders as the priority. Not customers.