I think it’s funny how just a few months ago the media was still talking about how we’re on the brink of the next great depression and we’re setting the stage for the equivalent of an economic apocalypse,but fast-forward to today and all the news is glowing and painting a rosy picture. It’s amazing what just a few good weeks in the market can do. Then again, they are more focused on grabbing your attention and gaining readers, not actually providing any intelligent insight.
That being said, there is some encouraging news out there. I’m not an optimist or a pessimist, but more of a realist. I won’t ignore some of the bad news that’s still out there just to get excited by a recovery that may or may not happen yet. At the same time, I’m not going to dismiss the good news and continue to proclaim doom and gloom.Instead, I think there’s some valuable information out there that is starting to paint a different picture of the economy, but the jury is still out on what will come of it.
We still have a long way to go in the housing market. While there might have been some headlines this past week or two that sounded quite encouraging, there’s still a lot of inventory out there and prices in many places still have a ways to come down yet. The same goes for unemployment. Jobs aren’t created overnight and companies won’t go on a hiring spree at the first sign of improving conditions, so those who are unemployed may still have a long way to go. The good news is that a lot of economic indicators aren’t dropping like a rock month after month any more, so at the very least, things are at least starting to hold up. This could very well be the sign of better things to come sooner rather than later, but we’ll just have to see.
So, I’m curious as to what the readers think about the economy right now. Have you ignored all of the glowing news completely and still hunkered down preparing for the worst, or are you starting to feel as if things really are improving and the worst is behind us?
