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Introduction: America's Economy: Is It Time to Stop Singing the Blues?
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19898 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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4 / 1992 |
604 Words |
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Chrysler has announced that it will lay off 70,000 workers, and General Motors will soon close 9 plants. When Pan Am, TWA, and Midway went belly up, lots more people found themselves out of work. Unemployment now tops 7 percent. Everyone knows that America's economy is headed for skid row. Right? Wrong, if you look at all the figures.
Unquestionably, some industries are in bad shape, but the nation is better off than in previous recessions. For example, there is no inflation on top of unemployment, which has not hit double digits as it did in the seventies. Consumers are in bargain heaven. They are buying almost anything they want for 20 to 40 percent off "the lowest price marked." Entrepreneurs are popping up across the nation in record numbers.
However, there is no question that a majority of Americans think we are still in a recession. Have we become, as Time suggested, a nation of whiners? While we the people may be depressed, the facts show that the economy isn't.
For this Special Report, THE WORLD & I went to leading economic and financial analysts to ask if it was time to stop singing the economic blues.
To help put us in tune with economic reality, Eugene Sarver, associate professor of finance at the Lubin Graduate School of Business of Pace University, points out that the recession is vastly overstated and is counterbalanced by important sectors' registering solid growth. Exports have done extremely well, increasing over 12 percent for much of 1991. Other areas experiencing upturns are housing, the travel industry, and the stock market. But economic doldrums obscure these and other positive factors that are very much a part of the American economy.
Several years ago, Americans began to worry about growth in manufacturing productivity. Yet, despite statistics confirming that America is the most productive nation in the world, Americans (and others) continue to complain about a decline in U.S. productivity. In "Better, Faster, and Smarter Services," William Freund explains the frustrations of the all-important service industry, which has invested enormous sums in computer, telecommunications, and information technologies with seemingly little payoff.
Yet although services have lagged and have slowed America's competitiveness, their situation is improving. In the shorter, efforts to better services will lead to more layoffs and
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