Too many tie economy to presidential politics

Many still do not understand the true meaning of Memorial Day

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Anyone who does the weekly grocery shopping is an expert on the economy.

You won't convince them otherwise.

What's in their fridge is not up for debate.

What they spend at the store is a weekly fact of life

So when recent surveys revealed half of Americans don't believe the economy is getting better, it raised important questions about why.

The Harris Poll showed that 56 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is in recession.

It is not.

The poll showed that 49 percent of Americans believe the S&P stock market index is down for the year.

It recently hit an all-time high.

The poll showed 49 percent believe unemployment is at a 50-year high.

It is at a 50-year-low.

Seventy-two percent believe inflation is increasing when it is gradually receding.

The poll reveals 58 percent blame President Biden for mismanaging the economy.

Yet, the statistics show the the U.S. actually has the strongest post-Covid economy in the world.

Why is there such a disconnect.

When the British newspaper The Guardian wrote about the Harris Poll last week, it introduced a new word for me - vibecession. It was first coined by economics writer Kyla Scanlon "to describe the widespread pessimism about the economy that defies statistics that show the economy is actually doing OK."

Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema told The Guardian, "Unwinding four years of uncertainty takes time. Leaders have to understand and bring the public along."

The problem is that the economy is intimately tied to politics.

People often vote their pocketbook.

What is more important for the public to remember is that global economies are sprawling entities with a multitude of influences that presidents have little control over.

That Harris Poll found that 55 percent believe the economy is getting worse.

That does not appear to be the case.

More than half agreed with the statement "it's difficult to be happy about positive economic news when I feel financially squeezed each month."

My own theory about this disconnect is rooted in the decline of newspaper readership.

In February 2017, I wrote a column about a South Glens Falls math teacher I crossed paths with - literally - as he was jogging past the newspaper's parking lot.

Bill Herrmann yelled out, "Thanks for the newspaper" as he jogged past.

When we finally corresponded by email a week or so later, he told me how much the newspaper meant to him and his family.

“As a parent of a senior and an eighth-grader at Glens Falls, the paper plays a role in my kids’ education … it’s sitting on the table when my boys scrounge some food before school. Sure, they look at the comics, the crossword, the Jumbles, but they see the front page and the sports, too. It is valuable to our family," Herrmann explained. "Even though my wife and I are long gone when they eat (or skip breakfast), the paper is sitting there for them to bump into and consume as much, or little, as they so choose.”

This was the case for families in small and large communities alike for generations.

The newspaper was the topic of conversation, debate and the main source for most of our community news.

It was often a family discussion.

I fear we've lost that type of discussion and the trust to believe in real facts.

Memorial Day

When I was a kid, I marched in the Memorial Day parade in my small town in Connecticut.

It was a big deal.

Thousands lined the parade route. Memorial Day was a special time to honor those that died in our wars.

When my son was young, we made it a point to attend the Glens Falls/Queensbury parade often riding our bikes down to Crandall Park.

Each year, our city editor at the newspaper, Bob Condon, would put together a list of local veterans who died serving their country. He was constantly updating the list. Inevitably, he would get complaints. We often had to explain that the list was only for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Sometimes there was pushback that ALL veterans are supposed to be remembered on Memorial Day and we would explain the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

Even then, some told us we were wrong.

As an adult, I always try to watch the ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. It is a special place and a reminder of the enormous cost of war.

Each year the president lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and delivers a speech in the nearby amphitheater.

  “We gather at this sacred place, at this solemn moment, to remember, to honor –honor the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of women and men who have given their lives to this nation,” President Biden said Monday. “Each one, literally … a link in the chain of honor stretching back to our founding days, each one bound by common commitment; not to a place, not to a person, not to a president, but to an idea unlike any idea in human history: the idea of the United States of America. Today, we bear witness to the price they paid.”

Trump's message on Truth Social was much different.

"Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left..."

Well, you get the idea. The post said nothing of the nation's war dead or those that gave the ultimate sacrifice, but instead focused on Trump's legal troubles.

Politics has changed.

Maybe our country has changed.

I hope the way we look at Memorial Day has not changed.

The season came to an end for the Adirondack Thunder Tuesday night in Game 6 of the conference finals with nearly 5,000 on hand to see the final game of the season.

Season ends

The Adirondack Thunder's season came to an abrupt end Tuesday night with a 4-3 defeat at hands of the Florida Everblades.

But here may be the most important number - 4,719.

That was the attendance for Game 6 Tuesday night and the energy in the old hockey barn this year was a reminder of what it was like when the Red Wings played.

The Thunder posted the best conference record this year. And while they never led Tuesday, they made it a game in the third period after trailing 4-1. Over the final 10 minutes, the Thunder scored twice and had some great opportunities in the closing minutes.

Hockey is back in Glens Falls.

Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.