Who's Doing Fine?

I know everyone is jumping on President Obama for his "gaffe" during last Friday's press conference saying that the "private sector is doing just fine."  All weekend we heard about how "out of touch" the President is with the economic realities of most Americans--and how he can only see the government sector as the way to fix the recesion.  But let's be honest--there are some private sector companies and taxpayers that are "doing just fine" right now.

Apple doesn't seem to be hurting for revenues right now.  The IPad is killing all of the other tablets on the market right now.  The IPhone is still hot and people continue to download most of their new music off of ITunes.  Not bad for a company that does not sell a single "need" in a supply and demand economy. 

Google seems to be doing pretty well.  I don't know too many people who don't respond with "Ask.com it" when someone asks a question they can't answer nowadays.  Ford sales remain strong--despite not taking a single government dollar to protect its union pension funds--I mean to "avoid going out of business".  And I don't see empty parking lots outside of movie theaters on Friday or Saturday nights.

And it's not just big corporations that are "doing just fine".  Many Americans are not in default with our mortgages.  (Those would be the people who saved up money for a down payment, took out standard 15-year mortgages and didn't buy McMansions.)  Many of us don't owe big bucks on our student loans.  (That would be the people who chose fields of study with modern practical applications and who planned to pay back the loans rather than racking up credit card debt as well by buying a whole bunch of stuff it took our parents years to accumulate during their working careers.)  And those of us who show up on time, work hard, get our assignments done and who have a positive attitude toward our bosses tend to hang on to our jobs--even in these "difficult employment times."

But, this "doing fine" is a tenuous situation at best.  The big corporations I mentioned before face major increases in health insurance costs and rising energy bills as well (ironically, due to the Obama Administration's economic policies).  And the belief that further government spending and debt is the only way out of our malaise threatens to put more pressure on those that are keeping everything afloat right now. 

The President may not be "out of touch" with the entire economic situation--but he is on the precipice of putting a real recovery "out of reach" for an entire generation.