In this June 9, 2011 photo, a condo with a view and a discounted price is listed for sale in Seattle. Fewer people bought previously occupied homes in May, sending sales to their lowest level of the year. (` Photo/Elaine Thompson)
I keep hearing about how good the economy is doing and I'm desperate to figure out how.
I hear grand announcements about stock market gains, huge job growth and low unemployment that make me feel like I'm in some kind of parallel, bizarre world, immune to wealth, irrational exuberance and the tortuous ecstasy that a $300,000 closet can inspire.
Perhaps there is an entire community of people who remain untouched by these happy fantasies, confused and angered that this economic abundance has passed them by.
I am an anomaly, an outlier, the poor man in a palace of plutocrats. I'm just here to skew the average.
I look at the economists frothing about a rapid rise in the stock market, 24 months of sub-4% unemployment, and “gangbuster” GDP growth, and I wonder if this is some kind of AI infestation . Or maybe these guys plundered Elon Musk's ketamine stash.
Or maybe they haven't bought oatmeal recently.
The last time I indulged in the squishy delicacy, it cost me $8.29. I mean, it's oatmeal, for heaven's sake. No caviar. No pine nuts. And not gold.
I'm just cutting back on the stuff to lower my cholesterol a few points, which should get me some sort of discount.
Instead, the entire cereal aisle has become “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” a tempting selection of treats well above my pay grade.
It's been 30 years since food consumed such a large portion of Americans' income, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. In 2022, we spent 11.3% of our disposable income on food, the newspaper reported, citing USDA statistics. That's nearly the same amount we spent in 1991, according to data the Journal obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Staple food prices have risen by more than 11% in 2022 and 5% last year, and although the rate of increase is slowing, prices are not trending the way I need them to, namely downward.
And yet I keep hearing some version of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” just as I keep reading about astronomical pots of gold being shoveled into an election that no one seems all that excited about.
Perhaps that's why only 9% of Americans surveyed actually believe the economy is in good shape. Of the 2,000 Americans surveyed by Statistica, 42% think the economy is in bad shape.
“Americans are upset about the economy, many say, because their long-term financial security appears fragile and vulnerable to widespread social and political threats,” the Journal reports. As Theresa Foster of Albany, N.Y., told the newspaper, “I feel like we're on very thin ice, that it's really fragile, and that neither political party has a theoretical basis for what they're doing with the economy.” want.”
And yet Mrs. Foster, who earns $200,000 a year with her husband, only has to turn to the Journal's weekly “Mansion” column, published every Friday and packed with tempting accessories to brighten up your mini-castle. There, readers learn that the average price of a high-end closet has risen from a modest $60,000 to $80,000 a decade ago to $200,000 to $300,000 today. I particularly enjoyed reading about the $1 million two-story closet with spray tan booth and elevator installed by a client of Atlanta closet designer Matthew Quinn.
Increasingly, closets are also serving as entertaining spaces, with seating areas and champagne bars where owners can host friends, the Journal reported.
“I wanted it to feel like not just my own little boutique, but like my own little personal art gallery where I can display some of my special bags and shoes,” Jill Gallagher said of a $150,000 walk-in closet. dollars added to her $2.1 million Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, home.
Oh, Jill, darling. Come over. For $10 I can provide a docent for my chosen closet, where you can see vintage LL Bean chinos with the bike grease still on them.
Better yet, we can sit down together and open a Quaker Oats. I'm going to indulge myself and pour the whole thing over your head.
Tracey O'Shaughnessy writes Sunday Reflections. Email her at [email protected] or visit rep-am.com/Reflections.
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