Tumbleweed

I was in a shopping mall in a rather affluent part of Winnipeg today. There were almost no customers in there. I understand that 5:15 pm on Tuesday September 1st is not the biggest shopping day of the year but nearly all the stores had no one buying in them.

They, whoever they are, are saying this recession is over and we are on the long road to recovery. I have never seen sales this sluggish in my adult life. The lowest of the low was not as weak as things appeared today.

When I think back to my entry level economics class I remember that economics is the study of human behavior in the face of scarcity and money is a means of exchange. Thinking about this not much acquiring behaviour was happening and money exchanging.

This worries me. Winnipeg faired quite well during the recent economic down turn, but it seems that it has slowly caught up with some of the harder hit areas of the country. There just seems to be less going on. We may be slowly and innoculously slipping into a worse state. The only way to turn around an economy is to spend money, increase tranactions by both value and frequency. I think everyone is sitting back and letting others fix the economy. I am tending toward saving. It seems right to take care of myself, but it doesn't help stimulate things.

I realize things will not be as hot as they were for a long time and there are parts of the country that are in much worse state than Winnipeg, but it makes me worry.

The mall seemed rather empty, I hope it was an anomoly, but I don't get that feeling.