The Stuff Index

There is a lot of grumbling and scrambling about these days as we, as a nation, try to overcome our economic malaise. There are those who say that creating jobs is the key. Others will tell you that the housing market drives this bus, and it continues to teeter on a cliff. Phrases like "consumer confidence" get trotted out and I wonder if they are talking about me. I consumed yesterday, and I did so with confidence.
Or did I? I confess there has been a degree of uncertainty in much of my recent consumption. Once something is gone, how do I know that it's coming back? Small children have this problem more than I do, but when you take the toy off the table that was in front of them only a second ago, it could be gone forever. Where did it go? Where did our government surplus go? Where did all the jobs go? They were here just a few years ago, right?
Well, maybe they're not really gone. They could be under the table, in the hands of some malevolent grown-up who is taking secret delight in watching us consumers flail about helplessly, as we wait for the magic reappearance of goods and services. Or perhaps we already have all the stuff we really need.
Thursday's news had plenty of live footage of confident consumers waiting in line outside Apple Stores. They were waiting patiently for the opportunity to buy a new cell phone. It's a really cool cell phone, that does a lot of things really well with the possible exception of being used as a cell phone. Maybe these were simply the deluded ones, the ones who haven't heard that we're in a recession. Maybe they went and cashed their unemployment checks to buy this one last gadget before completely cashing in their lifestyle.
And yet I know that I was one of those families who lined up to generated more than a hundred million dollars of ticket sales for a movie about toys. I saved so much money buying my new desk at IKEA that we stopped by their cafeteria later for a plate of Swedish meatballs. Sure, everything costs more than it did back when Bill Clinton was president, but I'm still buying stuff. I'm just not as confident as I used to be.