Wellington Leg: Life stops when the job is lost. Before it starts again a period of uncertainty brings about enough reflection to alter a few habits, discard some junk, scale down the activity level. Economists talk about the velocity of money, how fast it moves when times are good. That money has slowed to a crawl is part of the reflective process, the opposite of impulse buying. Money is scarce, sticking to the fingers of whoever has it, reallocated by instinct or formal plan to the basic necessities.
There is less traffic. Like the measles or chicken pox most recessions are waning by the time they are recognized. This time is different because our naked emperor is running down Wall Street with peasants and pitchforks in hot pursuit; hey, those scars on the limestone are from the riots in the Twenties. Where are the Pinkertons for crying out loud? Whatever happened to irrational exuberance? That was fun, by the way.
Maybe the Population is Reading After All: After all the analysis it turns out that people are reading more fiction. They’re eating fried baloney sandwiches and Velveeta a substance not native to this earth. We’re doing all kinds of crazy things. Grab a book and a pitchfork. Get down tonight.