It’s easy to see gloom and doom everywhere we look. Central banks are running out of money. Governments are operating in the red. Decreasing numbers of buyers are causing manufacturing to slow. Taxes are going up. Regulations are on the increase. Foreclosures are still high. Housing starts are low.
But, I just made a call on my cell phone. Fifteen years ago, I didn’t have one. Now, a hundred dollars or so gives me a tiny computer that keeps me in touch with the world. Costs of a computer, by the way, in actual dollars, are less than a typewriter made with thousands of parts a couple of decades ago.
The cost of paper is up, but all my magazine subscriptions have all lapsed. I learn more than I need to know on the web. Even better, I can learn all sides of every issue.
Energy abounds. A “billion barrel oil field” was just discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. Natural gas is flowing out of Pennsylvania, the Dakotas, and much of America, in record-breaking amounts. Nuclear reactor designs have been made so safe that even the government’s professional nit-pickers can’t find anything wrong with them.
Housing prices are down. Interest rates are at record lows. Stock prices are so low they almost have to go up. Gold and silver are so high their prices can’t help but fall. It may be time to sing the old song, “My Pa is rich, my Ma is good lookin’, fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.”
