I occasionally turn to the Business section of the local paper to see if banks are still solvent (that’s where I keep my growing debt load) or if the teacher’s pension plan has bought another winning hockey team (insert laugh track here) or mattress company for the growing numbers of boomers who want to go to bed early when The Leafs are playing.
(Leaf fans. I’m joking. We keep the faith together.)
Yesterday the business headline ‘Zero Growth Shocker’ caught my eye.
I thought, why would zero growth shock anyone?
Opening paragraph:
“The Canadian economic recovery ran into a wall in July, stunning expectations and creating new doubts about how long it will take for production and jobs to rebound to pre-recession levels.”
Ahh, I said. The height, thickness or texture of the wall must have been hard to figure. Like, if it was made of teflon nothing would stick.
But what about those expectations? What were they, what were they based on?
I read:
“Following a 0.1% increase in economic growth in June that signalled the end of the recession, economists had been expecting a strong rebound in July of anywhere from 0.5 to 0.7%.”
Ahh, there you go, I said to myself.
Maybe 0.1% growth doesn’t end a great and mighty recession. Maybe (due to teflon) a rebound is several more months away. Maybe (due to some other mysterious substance on the wall) the recession will never end.
Maybe our belief in constant growth is wrong.
While I go figure this out may I suggest the following:
Reduce spending. Save money. Live small.
***
Stay tuned.
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