The Other Economy?

How big is it? Does anyone know?

For instance, we've never bought a big ticket item new. So we don't contribute to that part of the economy. Or the way we contribute creates a dynamic that I haven't seen discussed.

We bought a dirtcheap house, we buy $500 cars, thriftstore clothes. How many Americans do this?

I heard on NPR that the new Energy Bill offers tax incentives for those who buy Hybrids---they can get like $500-$2000 back when they spend, what, $20K on a thrifty car. That's not thrift in my economy.

For how many Americans does a $20K car have no relation to thrift?

I mean, even if we had the money, we wouldn't do it. Why buy a new $20K car and get $2K back when you can buy the same car one year used and pay $10K?

We look around us and see 1000 minimall stores in our area. We shop at 3 of them. We TRY to support as many of them as we can (we try to get to know the owners but they're never around: only sullen teenage temp-staff) but we couldn't see the point of going into more than 3 of them. If people lived like us, 997 of those stores would be gone. Wouldn't they? What would happen?

Someone told us last week that we needed to open a restaurant so there'd be a place worth going in the area. Martha is indeed a great, fast cook who's kicked butt in some fine restaurants---but she knows the crazy score. Also, being the ONLY good restaurant in a region may not be a bright idea. It might mean that the public doesn't want quality, has been trained (stupified) away from it. Anyway, if we had a restaurant we'd only want to hire real people, no temp-drones. Our waiters would make a decent living at it. They'd be adults. You know how weird that would be for exurbia? 1%?