Does that sound like a good book title? The theme would be that treating the economy as if it were a single individual that sometimes spends less and works less is a simplification that does more harm than good.
This past weekend, I went to my home town for a high school reunion. In the process, I saw a number of reminders that not everyone is experiencing the same economy these days.
For one thing, the plane on Friday to St. Louis included a number of Baltimore Ravens fans. I could tell they were not from the top ten percent of the income distribution. When did it become common for the non-rich to fly to road games? I guess the advent of Southwest Airlines means that flying is no longer a luxury. But I felt like somebody did not get the memo that we are in a recession.
The reunion was well attended. About half the people came from out of town. Nobody seemed to be suffering from economic distress. Moreover, many of us have children in their late twenties, and everybody's kid seemed to have a good job. One classmate's kid had already made his first million, selling a business that had a popular i-phone app.
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