Thinking about the “Real Economy”

Things market-wise are continuing to get better in our area.  We’ve had a 3% increase in home sales in Western WA.    Our own Mason County is still not showing as much increase as some of our more popular counties, but we are doing better.

My attention is on the job situation.  Until unemployed people start going back to work, and others feel more confident about keeping their jobs, our real economy will not be where we need it to be.  I don’t care how high the DOW goes, and I care less about the GDP.  These indicators are not measuring the real economy. 

Our real economy rests in the people, and their well being, not in the paper, or financial economy.  We ought to be measuring the way we are stewarding and using our resources, our goods and services.  Our resources include the people of this country.  We are not just “consumers” as some seem to think.  We are the basis of the real economy of our country, along with other resources such as timber, good soil for growing things, water, etc. 

Too often people focus on the paper economy, and watch the DOW go up and down, and ignore the real stuff of our economy.  We real estate agents have a saying:  underneath all is the land.  We need to be more down to earth about the economy again, and less focused on how well the “investor class” is doing, and more focused on the real economy. 

As I look at things like more good paying jobs, educational opportunities, affordable health care, availability of affordable housing, and the general confidence of every day people, I am looking at the condition of our real economy.  When the real economy is good, then we real estate professionals are happy indeed.

Tags: economy, educational, health care, jobs, paper, real economy