Economic Recovery?

A falling unemployment rate. Slightly stabilized home prices. A small uptick in construction of new homes. A major leap upward in construction of multi family buildings, mostly for rental markets. Auto sales rising; steadily. Layoff announcements lessening.

Do these facts spell economic recovery? Maybe. Certainly an improvement on a very bad situation, but not exactly a recovery. Still good news. Our nation can build on these facts toward a fuller recovery.

Why no excitement from me on this?

Well, I am pleased to see some positive news for a change, but I have lingering concerns. These include:

• Underemployment is huge; perhaps as much as 9.5% of the labor force
• Standard of living has been seriously pinched for several years (sometime in 2006 to present) as household incomes declined and remain low
• Low household income spells continued high levels of personal debt and that is fundamentally unhealthy for everyone
• Low household income means consumption will be dampened for the foreseeable future; thus product inventories will remain stifled
• Quality of life issues remain pinched: older cars, poorly maintained homes, aging appliances, slower adaptation to new technology, delayed medical care, etc.

There are other issues as well that concern me:

• If we perceive the economy is recovering we may very well avoid doing some things that need to be done: renewed infrastructure that will pave the way for solid economic recovery for the next 30 to 50 years
• Putting off yet again the need to get off the Oil Standard and invent replacement energy means
• Avoiding the hard inventions we need: transportation modes, housing patterns, smarter land use for environmental protection, etc.
• Replacement of current education methods to more effective and sustainable modes

There is a lot of work ahead for America. Much of it is internal. Some of it is external but even that would help the internal assignments. Let’s count the ways:

1. Provide accessible education to more smoothly move people to new careers as old ones become obsolete
2. Encourage diversity of interests to fuel individual creativity and usefulness
3. Celebrate ethnic diversity to support national unity and strength rather than division and animosity, distrust and discrimination
4. Shift from fear-based perception of the world to positive orientations
• Inclusion
• Collaboration and cooperation
• Focus on solving problems or avoiding them in the first place
• Creativity embraced and rewarded
5. Nurture quality of life appreciation
• Education and understanding
• Fact-based view of the world
• Music and arts used as communication and education methodologies
• Indiscriminate consumption lessened
• Self sustaining lifestyles invented and promoted
• Healthy personal relationships supported
• Strong families nurtured
• Discrimination and bigotry neutralized
• Elders included in our social interactions
• Housing alternatives for age and income groups
• Sexual orientation and alternative lifestyles
• Sexism and bullying successfully addressed
6.  Restructure governance behaviors
• Reduce influence of political parties
• Focus our attention on competing ideologies, understand them and implement the workable facets of each as appropriate
• Focus on power sharing for increased participation and buy-in

A lot of work needs to be done. Indeed! Economic recovery is a part of getting that work done. But let us not fall prey to the old methods that will only continue our shared problems indefinitely. Instead, let us experiment with new methods that will help solve problems and create new, self sustaining life styles.

When do we get started? Who will be involved? You?

January 7, 2012