It’s Simply Incredible

Those of us who fancy ourselves part-time pundits
can sometimes become so downcast and upset over the senseless violence,
moral bankruptcy, blatant lies, cruel hypocrisy and doomed hedonism of
our times, that we are blinded to the truly miraculous stories that are
all around us.

For example, everything we learned about economics,
both as an undergrad in the People’s Republic of Cambridge and in graduate
school in the heart of the current Neo-con conspiracy, Austin, Texas, tells us
our economy should be in deep do do. Petroleum, the motor of our economy,
has burst through the roof.

A barrel of oil, according to the DOE,
cost on average $11.91 in 1998. Today we closed at $67.30 That’s
a tidy 567% run up in the past 7 years.

Now, oil does much more than run our automobiles and
heat our homes.  It is used to run factories, public installations,
the military, generate electricity and move each and every product, food
item, letter and package from sender to receiver and provider to consumer.
The price of oil is a component of the price of every single product
we consume, as well as being an important raw material for the pharmaceutical,
plastics and agronomic industries.

So the economy must be in an incredible tailspin, right?
Companies must be losing money right and left, the prices for fuel intensive
services like airfares should be doubling and tripling, and the overall
economy should be sputtering and stalling. Not according to the President’s
economic advisors.

They tell us a miracle has occurred! The explosion of
oil prices isn’t slowing down the economy! In fact, it is growing, the
recovery is strengthening, the consumers are still spending. Our economy is impervious
to the laws of economics!

Never mind that bankruptcies are at an all-time high,
that thousands of people are turning out to apply for a few dozen jobs,
that the country has a negative saving rate, and that personal (apart
from mortgages) debt is over $18,700 for every family in the United States.
Forget the record deficits in the balance of trade and the Federal budget,
and
the mounting national debt. Corporate earnings are up! The Dow Jones
Industrial is near post-9/11 highs. Unemployment is low! Life is good.
It’s a miracle!

Another thing. Every time we go to the supermarket,
we can’t help but notice that it seems that the prices are going up,
up, up. Hillshire Ham used to be $4.99 and now it costs $7.99. Last summer
lobster was $7.99 and this summer they are $10.99.  The co-pay on
our health plan just went from $10 to $15. Our car insurance goes up
every year despite the fact that the white whale is one year older. Tuition
keeps jumping, and so does the cable bill. We stopped being able to afford
Red Sox or Celtics tickets two or three seasons ago. Joe the barber in
Harvard Square just jumped from $11 to $14.

But, according to the Federal
Government, inflation
is less than 3% per year! It’s incredible! It’s another miracle!  We
suppose all those increases in food, gas and housing are balanced by
decreases in high tech gear and telecommunications. Actually, our last
computer cost more than our previous one, and so did our current TV,
and now that we think about it, our phone, internet and cable bills keep
going up. But we must be the exception to the rule.

It’s enough to convince even the most cynical skeptic
that the good Lord is indeed watching out for  the good old USA,
and we are blessed and chosen to bring capitalist enlightenment to the
rest of the world.  The old rules don’t apply to us, obviously,
and everyone else is just going to have to get used to it.

It’s simply incredible.