Economy Improving?

So, I read yet again that the economy is improving. I'd like to know where. Oh, I realize, now that all the middle class has lost their stock market investments and their nerve, the market is going back up. Well, how nice for the aristocratically elite of this country. As far as the rest of us seeing the improvement . . . I can't find anyone seeing it. I asked a clerk at the grocery store if she'd noticed anything different and she began complaining about the price of groceries and then proceeded to tell me about her son that had had the same job since right out of school was now entering his second year of unemployment. She went on to tell me that there were thousands of applicants for a single job opening in many of the places her son was sending his resume. Then I found myself in a really strange conversation in a pharmacy. Since I don't use pharmaceuticals this is one loop I am clearly out of and truthfully haven't missed. My husband went in for something, so the granddaughters and I wandered around. Since Father's Day snuck up on my by a week, this year, I thought I better grab a card for Daddy while I was there. To my shock, the card plus tax came to just under $5.00. I just stood there for a moment before offering my thoughts as to why e-cards are gaining momentum and the fact that this was not even a Hallmark! Then the conversation got strange as the clerk informed me of all the reasons the card was so expensive. I agreed that all of her details clearly indicated e-cards were the way to go. She then said, the problem with the economy is: are you ready? People have too much money. Well now, that certainly was a new perspective in this economic crisis. She then tried to engage me in some conversation about the end of free checking. I just had to get out of there before I said any more. As we were leaving we noticed several shelves of items that we had never seen in the pharmacy before. The clerk quickly informed us that all the items on those shelves were $1.00. Oh, one more place that this improved economy is affecting! I then went to mail the card. I couldn't believe it when I got to the post office and the man behind the counter informed me it would be 61 cents. That's right, a first class stamp wouldn't cover it. He just looked at me like all postal workers do . . . I was so glad I hadn't stuck a stamp on it and dropped it in a mail box somewhere. Our illustrious postal service would have either cancelled the stamp and returned it to me for insufficient postage or delivered it to my Dad, postage due. Wow! Wouldn't that have truly said, "Happy Father's Day!"
Well, I can honestly say, I think the only thing that will keep paper cards and the post office in business much longer, are the people that refuse to get computers!
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. Ecclesiastes of Holy Scripture