Economic Indicators

I'm pretty sure we're headed out of the recession, or "economic slowdown," that we're reportedly not in. How do I, a failure in finance 101, know this? Because of three very important fiscal discoveries I made this past week. And if you're reading this and you live below the Mason-Dixon Line, read that "physical" discoveries.

As I've previously mentioned on my blog, I usually stumble upon at least a penny a day. Somebodies spare change falls out of their car, purse or pocket and I find it. This has been the case ever since I stopped driving to work and started riding MARTA and walking/jogging more. Sometimes I find nickels and dimes, rarely a quarter, and once I found a 20 dollar bill. But until a few days ago, it had been over a week since I found any money at all. I figured that people were being more cautious with their cash and acting more carefully when pulling their hands out of their pockets. I was beginning to feel the pinch and was somewhat stressed about it too. I kept saying to myself, in true obsessive-compulsive fashion, "it's been days since I've picked up any cash on the street." So you can imagine my joy when, after days without finding a single cent, I jogged across a dime! This was my first sign that the economy was headed in the right direction.

The second economic indicator was an empty zip-lock drug baggie. For those of you who don't live in or around a "hood," the picture above includes the said bag for educational purposes. I photographed it, next to the precious dime I found, with my camera phone since my new Casio digital camera's supposed rechargeable battery died. It's not a very clear photo, but Casio says they intend to make this up to me. I called them on Sunday morning and a very nice gentleman assured me that this was a common problem with my camera's battery and that they would be sending me out a replacement battery post-haste. When I asked him if post-haste meant that the battery would arrive before my vacation next week, he told me he wasn't sure. but anyway, back to the drug bag. I decided that this was a pretty good economic indicator that people were again spending good hard earned/begged cash on dope. I plan to place the baggie in our recycling container and see if they'll take it.

And the final thing I noticed is that our government is now getting savvy in its hiring practices. Look at this. USA Jobs, a federal employment website, has an opening for an Innovative Finance Specialist. Clearly the government has realized that we need innovation when it comes to our nation's finances. Either they lost an innovative finance specialist and are trying desperately to fill those shoes/pumps OR they've just now created this new position and are looking for just the right person who perhaps recently lost his or her job on Wall Street.

By my accounts, if Al Gore had been in office for the past 8 years, our economy wouldn't have been a problem because he would have made use of "fuzzy math" and "lock boxes."

P.S.
Happy B-day to all of you with April B-days including Mrs. T, Kali, Tequila and of course Mimi!