Letters to the Editor
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Suicide is painless (lyrics from Mash)
If the economy was slowing down, wouldn't you expect bargain-basement outlets like Wal-mart and CostCo to do relatively well? That line is perfect. What sort of economy depends on consumer spending to make the numbers? And if fewer people are shopping at Nordstroms, and more people are shopping at Walmart, what does that say? Consumer spending is up, because people pay for more gasoline, (and everything else).
Since there are no jobs, other than US government jobs, and their contractors, there is no possiblity of a recession. An economic downturn by their standards would be happening on the dark side of the moon. So who cares? and that's the real issue here, who cares?. Wall Street still has money flowing into their hands, boatloads of dollars created during the era of monetary excess.
The real issue for them, is what happens when the Fed decides to mop up that extra cash? The financial people, (all that's left of the capitalistic society) may lose their bonuses, but the pension funds for everyone else will disappear.
The baby boomers will be too old to make more money, and too poor to live their retirement dreams, and too old to take to the streets like they did in the 60's. But who ever protested economic policy, other than French students?
Well there is a new generation of college kids, most who have paid dearly for college educations they cannot use. Maybe they'll take up the cause.