September 13, 2002

Forever!

I have a theory about the economy. I think it's going to double-dip, triple-dip, infinity-dip into more and more recessions. People who have been laid off will never find a job, and if they are lucky enough to get something, they'll just get laid off again a few months later. I'm sorry to be so pessimistic to those of you who might be in this situation, but I'm really starting to despair of any hope that there will be any actual recovery anytime soon. I explained it to my boss this way: there's an episode of the Simpsons where they're on a boat going down the river, and it splits, and one way is all happy and shiny with green trees and the other way is dead trees and clouds and gloom. We're going toward the gloom.

This is all opposed to the way it was in 1999, when the bull market had been going a couple of years, and everybody thought it would go on forever. I was going to be a millionaire by the time I was 25. I couldn't wait to look at my stocks every morning to see how much they'd gone up since yesterday. Oh how times change. Now I never look at my stocks, I can't stand it.

I guess the truth is somewhere in the middle. But just like that bull market that lasted 3 or 4 years, this recession has already been going for more than 2 years, full force for more than a year, and nobody sees the end in sight, no matter what you might see on finance websites that don't know jack. I wish there was just some formula for all this, so we could look at the economy and make an educated guess about when the end will be and there will be jobs again. But there's no such thing, and I have to assume it will last forever, and I'll die in a ditch someplace.

I'd buy a Tivo but I'm afraid to spend unnecessary money. Same with a big freezer, and a vacation to the Grand Canyon. PFFT! to the economy and this endless recession.

Published: September 13, 2002
Editor: stacy