Dear Reader: The “What’s New” section has an update, as is the case every few weeks.
I imagine that you’ve heard a lot of bad stuff about the economy recently, and there certainly are some troubling things that have transpired, but look at how half-full your glass is. The Stock Market seems to be pretty okay, and gas prices are falling like a rock.
After some amazingly big drops in the Stock Market, I was shocked to read that it had only reached its lowest point in five years. I assumed things were much worse than that. Being set back five years seems like more of an inconvenience than a catastrophe. It made me think that maybe we’ve been having some strong growth over the last five years that I don’t remember reading about. Then, even more amazingly, the Stock Market recently had its biggest one-day improvement ever, and at least one other strong day since then.
Meanwhile, gas prices, which had gone to almost five dollars a gallon after a recent hurricane, have dropped to under three dollars a gallon. You know, with people having to put so much less cash in their gas tanks each week, it sure does free up dollars for Christmas presents and whatnot. It could be a much more jolly season for retailers than the experts were predicting just a short while ago.
And as long as I’m spreading Christmas cheer about the economy, let me also encourage all of you who are sweating over the presidential election next month. If the wrong guy (meaning: the one you don’t want) gets elected, don’t worry, there’s only so much damage the guy can do. We don’t live in a dictatorship—we’ve got that system of checks and balances you learned about in school. And besides if the nation’s choice next month messes up too badly, the American people will replace him in four years.
So, to quote—I think the name of the movie is—Better off Dead, “Buck up, little camper.” Life in America is good. Appreciate what you’ve got, and don’t worry about what you can’t control.