George Gunset’s article (Business, Sept. 3) about the bull re-emerging on Wall Street reminds us all how times have changed.
Gunset states that “The surge really kicked in . . . when a report from the manufacturing sector showed a slowing pace of growth. . . .”
Indeed. There was a time not too long ago when a “slowing pace of growth” in the manufacturing sector would have had precisely the opposite effect in the financial markets. Increased activity in the manufacturing sector used to be considered good. Increased activity in the manufacturing sector meant more jobs. And more jobs meant more security.
And more security meant more confidence in the future, and that confidence in the future translated to more spending, which was supposed to be a good thing.
Not anymore. Now the so-called economic experts tell us that too much consumer spending overheats the economy, and it’s better for us all if that manufacturing sector’s growth rate slows down. Maybe even a little more unemployment, as long as it’s somebody else who’s unemployed. And what used to be bad news drives the financial markets off the charts.
Quick, economists, what time’s the next change?
