The Pulaski Pass

If you're driving along the 295 up near Oceanway, doing about 72 in the right lane, and someone flies past you at around 90, slams on their brakes, and then exits, you just got Pulaski Passed. This happens at both Alta and Pulaski, but it is more prevalent north bound for some reason. Normally, there is nobody directly behind you, so the passer could have obviously gotten into the right lane to exit, but waiting to get back to the manufactured home and twenty fenced-in pitbulls wasn't an option. Maybe the meth cooker was left on. Maybe the kids were left alone all day. Maybe the last 40oz bottle of Steel Reserve is being held at the liquor store.

I call it the Pulaski Pass because the Alta Pass doesn't sound as cool. Also, it's frustrating and kind of dangerous, but not as annoying as getting San Pabloed.

It Was the Economy, Stupid

I read this interesting article about economic indicators and why they can be wrong that shed some light on several recent national and local elections. The factors that drove people to demand change are real, but the indicators the government uses has trouble catching those factors, so many politicians kept telling us the economy was fine. Here's a summary of several economic indicators and how they could be misinterpreted:

Unemployment rate

We've had record low unemployment, but people who work part time, are underemployed, or who have long-since give up on finding employment aren't counted as unemployed. When you add those people, the rate may double.

Weekly earnings

Per-capita income looks good for Americans, but this indicator only counts full-time workers. Our incomes drop over 30% as a nation if you count part-time (which we should if we say they are not unemployed).

Consumer Price Index

This indicator tracks prices for 80,000 goods and services, but it seems some of those goods are luxury items, and some services aren't used by the middle class. Basically, it's not just a price index for necessities, but that's what those of us who are middle class are concerned about. Rolex watches might have only increased 1%, which is great for the 1%ers, but if eggs have increased 100%, that is a bigger concern to most of us. We probably should exclude some goods and services from this index if we want to get a true sense of why people feel like they don't have enough money.

GDP 

Import, exports, housing, etc. In general, people know that a healthy Gross Domestic Product is good for the economy, but if housing is expensive, it's not necessarily good for YOUR economy. I assume GDP was super-important during the post WWII manufacturing boom, but when we are in the middle of a retirement boom, not so much.

So What?

If you were frustrated with the government because of your cost of living, you more than likely voted in a way that you hoped would fix the problem. It may not get fixed with inflationary policies like tariffs, but not doing anything and just saying the economy is fine doesn't help, either.