# Your crazy, off-the-wall theory for why the economy is getting better **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786 "2010-08-28T14:12:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786/21 "2010-08-31T14:00:21Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > (Granted, Apple could sell ice to Eskimos. In fact, Eskimos used to just live in gloos made of ce, until Apple saw a market niche.) Loving this.^^ And probably stealing it sometime soon. When ads for various “bingo” websites go away, I’ll know the economy is definitely getting better. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786/22 "2010-08-31T14:04:22Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > I haven’t seen a de Beers ad on TV in ages (or one for whatever it is they changed their name to). I don’t know if that means people or buying plenty of diamonds, or that romance is dead. > > Wait till Christmas, you will see plenty of ads, and mostly they will tout ‘diamond jewelry under $100 (or maybe now $200) for that special someone…’ > > I look at the ads from K-Mart in the Sunday paper, they are still selling jewelry set with microscopic diamond chips. Something new is the white sapphire in place of a diamond. I suppose it’s a step up from a CZ, or diamond dust. > > In other news, houses are selling like mad around here (very low cost of housing, for years now, is the area’s claim to fame though where all the jobs are is a mystery). New housing developments are going up all over! We went looking at jewelry last week. Every jewelry store we went to had cleared out at least a quarter of its retail space for Pandora/Troll beads and bracelets. Even Jared’s is madly trying to sell them. I’m sure part of it is trying to jump on the bandwagon because they’re very popular, but also because they figure nobody’s buying $1000 earrings right now so they may as well try to push $50 beads. ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786/23 "2010-08-31T14:23:48Z")
Here in flyover country, we don’t get the high highs or the low lows, and what is happening on the coasts and in the larger cities usually takes a year or two to reach us. In SW MO housing prices went up 0.6 percent last year, and have not lost value during this downturn. In my line of work, I see a lot of the business trends in the area, especially lodging and food. Most of the motels in town are holding steady for the last few years. In late '08-late '09, restaurants started closing at a much faster pace than opening; probably 3:1. Now it’s about 1:1 closing : opening. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786/24 "2010-08-31T14:28:20Z")
This will be known as the recovery that never came. I think we’ve experienced a serious shift which will be a permanent marker in the history of the USA. The whole culture has changed. 10% unemployment will be the new baseline (used to be 4-5%)… 15% will be the new scary mark. Heck, 8-10% used to be terrifying. **The longer we stay at 10%, the more normal it will seem and the rest of the country will be economically modeled around 10% as the new baseline**. The culture and dynamics will shift permanently, so that there is absolutely no way we will see unemployment rates below 9-10% long term. Note: Observations reflect local issues. When viewed as a whole, the USA is wallowing along, not rebounding from a recession. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786/25 "2010-08-31T16:28:43Z")
I’m in NH, and this summer I have seen more Ferraris and Lamborghinis and other high end cars than I can ever recall seeing. I think there is definitely money out there to be spent, only it’s held by too few people. Given that, I kinda think the economy in the big picture is neither up nor down but just stagnant, with some people benefiting, but many more taking it hard in the rear. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786/26 "2010-08-31T21:20:08Z")
I work in the defense industry and go to a decent number of tradeshows. When the economy started going downhill, the quality of the giveaways dropped significantly from laser pointers, pocket knives, and flashlight keychains to cheap plastic pens, retractable badge holders, and candy. I am happy to report that I just got back from a tradeshow a few weeks ago, and they are back to higher end giveaways again, so the economy must be improving… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786/27 "2010-08-31T22:05:39Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Banks are wallowing in cash and so are large businesses, but nobody is investing or loaning. Why is that, do you suppose? While the real estate market is the shits, there are other ways to use cash to generate more cash and jobs. Are they really so pissed at the Dems for re-instituting oversight and controls that they will deliberately fuck the American people in order to get another inattentive moron into the White House and turn Congress over to the raving loonies? My money is on “yes”. The actual reason is that businesses and banks don’t know what those regulations will be or what the political climate will look like after tne November elections. I don’t know if they really care all that much what the regulations will be, but at the very least they want to know what they will be so they can plan accordingly. You really think that thousands of businesses and banks collectively decided not to hire people to spite the democrats? Talk about raving loony. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-crazy-off-the-wall-theory-for-why-the-economy-is-getting-better/551786.md?page=1)