The past week's news about the economy reminded me of a Wall St. Journal op-ed I came across in March, where WSJ senior economic writer Stephen Moore described his encounter with college students who were -- for some unfathomable reason -- skeptical about the nation's economy.
Moore sought to reassure them that things were peachy because Americans now spend $36 billion a year on pet food, and because Drew Carey hosts an online TV show about conspicuous consumption. And as for cellphones:
They seemed clueless that as recently as the early 1980s only the richest people in the world had cellphones and the quality of these products left much to be desired. Watch a movie from 20 years ago and you will laugh out loud seeing big clunky black machines that weighed as much as a brick, gave crackly service and cost $4,200. Now cellphones are practically free -- even disposable. And the cost of making calls has dropped dramatically.
Ergo, the economy's never been better.
Q.E.D.
Read the enitre WSJ piece if you can stomach it. I wonder what Moore has to say to undergrads this weekend.