Have you heard? The economy sucks. Maybe you have read about it in the newspaper, on various internet sites or even heard about it on the evening news or the radio. That is, if you can even afford to pay for newspapers, internet access or electricity to power your television without giving up important things like providing dinner for your children who are now relegated to wearing burlap sacks once filled with potatoes.
Have you heard? The economy sucks. Maybe you have read about it in the newspaper, on various internet sites or even heard about it on the evening news or the radio. That is, if you can even afford to pay for newspapers, internet access or electricity to power your television without giving up important things like providing dinner for your children who are now relegated to wearing burlap sacks once filled with potatoes.
The country is in the dumper. Wages are down. People are worried about losing their jobs. Did I miss any of the big talking points? I know there are a lot more where those came from and I could fill the page with them. However, that would be a pointless exercise.
Think about those claims I mentioned above. We are inundated every day with these stories of doom and gloom and about how America is going to Hell in a hand basket. Now maybe, just maybe, if you only listened to the stories about how bad it is out there you might be determined to believe that a recession or even a depression is on the way even though we have not even met the standards of a recession yet. Or maybe you are one of those who have rewritten the truth to actually believe we are in one now?
Well ask yourself this, if everything sucks so bad, the economy is in shambles and we on the verge of (or even in) a recession then how is it that people are just blowing their cash on extremely frivolous things? Things like, oh I don't know, going to Disney theme parks?
Yes, you heard right. In this time of such dire circumstances attendance at Disney's parks in the United States is up 5% and revenues are up even higher - 11% give or take. In other words, not only are more people going to Disney's parks, but they are spending more money there too.
Hmm. Interesting. Is spending lots of money on leisure something you often do as the first thing when you fear a potential economic problem? I know that there are people out there that spend money they don't have (see the sub-prime housing fiasco for example) but I am talking to you, an intelligent human being and not some schlub who would not know how to save a dollar if their life depended on it.
As a country we are supposed to be suffering economically. We are supposed to be worried about losing our jobs and wondering if our paycheck will be handed to us twice a month on schedule and actively questioning where our next meal will be coming from. We are told that our neighbors are suffering and that they are not able to afford simple things like clothes for their children without tightening their belts beyond the last available notch. If they can even still afford a belt that is.
This is what we are told by certain people. But our eyes are drawn back to the news about Disney almost with eager interest to make these reports square with what we have been told. Maybe we are supposed to believe that people are just going out for one last fling before reality sets in, the bubble bursts and the soup lines that will stretch for blocks are formed. Maybe we are supposed to believe that these poor, deluded souls simply don't see the impending disaster that they are told day after day is coming.
After all, things cannot be going that well. The reports and the pundits tell us otherwise. They say that it is all but over – pack up the bags and last one out please turn off the lights. We will all be panhandling for spare change before it is all said and done.
But yet we still have questions as to why Disney is doing so well and showing growth. It does not make much sense. And then it dawns on us. People can tell us anything. They can say anything they want. But just because the words are spoken doesn't make them truthful.
I could tell you that there is an elephant under my hat or that the sky is really hot pink and not blue or that the grass is purple and not green. But you can simply look and see that such claims are not true.
The same thing is currently happening with the economy.
Now, that is not to deny that there are pockets of trouble, sectors that are struggling for various reason and that there won’t be recessions, depressions or just otherwise hard times to come. They happen. There are good times and there are there are bad times. And sometimes something so catastrophic happens (like say a government induced housing bubble bursting) that bad times, or at least troubled times, are unavoidable.
No one can stop them no matter how much they promise. Not even politicians promising hope and change or more government control of our lives and the economy.
But the next time someone tells you how bad it is in America and asks what you are going to do next, just smile. Then respond. "Why, I'm going to Disney World!" Just like the rest of America apparently.
J.J. Jackson is a libertarian conservative author from Pittsburgh, PA who has been writing and promoting individual liberty since 1993 and is President of Land of the Free Studios, Inc. He is the Pittsburgh Conservative Examiner for Examiner.com. He is also the owner of The Right Things - Conservative T-shirts & Gifts http://www.cafepress.com/rightthings. His weekly commentary along with exclusives not available anywhere else can be found at http://www.libertyreborn.com
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