The recession, that is.My wife said "Let's go see the windows." To a New Yorker, this means looking at the creative store displays at Barneys, Saks, Macy's, and others. "Sure", I said.
OK, I have to admit there was some real artistry in a few of the locations. But another display left an equally strong impression: the enormous crowds. The seas were nearly impossible to part at times. What were all these people doing?
Even though the jostling was intense, spirits seemed light (at least by New York standards). Our visit was after Christmas. But, shopping was still going on; and people seemed please to be out and about. Not so much, I would guess, if you were agoraphobic, perhaps.
While I may admit to some phobias, that's not one.
I had a sense, though, that sometime last year we may have turned some sort of corner in our economy. Fighting your way through pedestrian traffic may not be the best way to describe or sense this, but why not. It's as real as any economist's mumbo-jumbo to me.
Wouldn't it be nice to see this in our livelihoods? Maybe with just a little less elbowing.
