As should be well known to every human being who has lived since man’s ancestors first stood up and grabbed a club in the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey, thousands of politicians, economists and corporate media flacks wishing it to be does not a growth economy make.
Reality insists on rudely intruding into the delusions of those who have never out of necessity been forced to step into a payday loan “store” or to leave a family possession at a pawn shop so as to put food on the table or to cure what ails them by throwing back a few pounders* .
Is “optimism” in the face of an overwhelmingly negative reality a sign of a “healthy outlook on life”?
Or is it an indicator of persistent denial coupled with the luxury of relative prosperity and the intent to maintain both at all cost?
You tell me.
I still prefer the harsh reality derived from a “ruthless criticism of everything existing” to the optimistic pipe-dreams of those who ignore the high personal and social cost of daily living in a capitalist paradise, of overwhelming human lose, and of throwing back a few pounders.
(*By the way, a “pounder” is a cheap and popular alcoholic substitute for the wide range of medical treatments, psychological help, and medication that an ever increasing number of people in Spokane and the U.S. will never have access to nor be able to afford. With a payday loan, one might be able to retrieve the kid’s bike from the pawn shop, pay the utility bill, cover part of the rent, and still be able to fill that prescription for a six pack or case of Keystones to help kill the pain and forget for a night those damnable politicians, economists and talking heads with their well-fed, medically-insured optimism.)
Spokane Economic Indicators 
