I read a couple of days ago in the Times that average wages for 80% of the workforce had risen from $612 a week to $618 a week in the last few months. Let's not all jump for joy at once. Credibility for this factoid was attributed to the number-crunching of two (unnamed) government agencies. Is this a case of government spin at work? Perhaps not. A majority of the economists, optimists, people that matter and people wanting to matter have declared that this recession is over.
Though they all cite facts that the rebound will most definitely be tepid at best, the general consensus is that the economic crashing has leveled off; we are no longer falling of a cliff, we are just falling. And now that the lesser of bad news is treated as good news, as it has been since this spring, we should all be happy. Must we remind them that we, the millions of unemployed or underemployed, can't seem to overcome our cognitive dissonance?
How much more cynical are we going to get of the economic good news? I should not be so ungrateful for the $6 extra dollars a week that I would be earning if I were employed. I must always remain positive, I must always make lemonade, I must always believe that things can/will be better. Only a positive attitude can boost my spirits and keep me above the negative fray. Only I can be responsible for making the choices that ultimately led me to be unemployed in the first place.
All things being unequal, if the shoe was on the other foot, I would want to be holding on to that shoe and therefore I shouldn't begrudge an economy that appears to be moving on without me. If I get my foot back in the door, that would shift my compass, wouldn't it?
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