It was the consumer, the worker, the ordinary American who first felt the economy slipping into recession, even as professional economists and political leaders were asking, "What recession?"
Now, as the professionals and elected officials declare the recovery under way, the ordinary people are heard asking, "What recovery?"Same economy, two perspectives, but in between them is a serious break in the lines of communication.
To the professional, the economy is such things as gross domestic product, industrial production, inventories, construction, sales, government spending, exports, imports, interest rates, profits and a dozen other categories.
To the ordinary person, however, it is employment and job security, buying power, debts, taxes, health-care costs and the like. The economy is measured by the ability to sustain lifestyles. The indicator is the pocketbook.
The professional sits in his or her office and analyzes an incredible array of impersonal statistical reports from government, business, academe and the media. The consumer learns by interacting personally in the marketplace.
The two worlds do not always understand each other any more than do two people speaking different languages. Each tries to communicate with the other, but except in rare instances they fail miserably.
Much of the problem arises from the growing awareness of economic events and their ascendancy to the top of the news. News about the economy has become popular, but the language hasn't. Neither has an appreciation of the audience.
More often than at any time before, the audience for economic news is likely to be the ordinary American seeking practical information, education and guidance. But relatively few economists speak to the consumer market.
As you might expect, the result is often confusion.
For many Americans, the recession began long before it was acknowledged by economic and political leadership. It began with shorter work weeks, less overtime, a heightened level of layoffs, budget strains, lost confidence.
Millions of Americans felt this pressure as early as the late spring of 1990, but it wasn't for another year that the professionals acknowledged it. Even then, some of them continued to deny a recession was beginning.
In fact, it wasn't uncommon for economists, including some in official government positions, to chastise the public for failing to understand what was going on, and the media was sometimes accused of undermining confidence.
As far as many professionals are concerned, the recession is now over and expansion has begun again. They have examined the manufacturing statistics and the index of leading economic indicators, and they are certain of their ground.
Never mind that it is, as economist Lacy Hunt puts it, "a technical recovery, unrecognizable to the man in the street." Technical though it be, which in translation means insignificant, to the professionals it is a recovery.
But not, as Hunt says, to the man in the street. Unemployment, at its highest in six years, might continue to grow for many more months. Business failures, which have grown for 22 straight months, might continue upward.
Pay raises will be rare, but increases in taxes, insurance costs, health care and some other items will be common. Budgets will be strained. Employers will be especially choosy about hiring. Job insecurity will remain high.
This economy, often called the consumer economy for want of a better term, is a very real economy. It is concerned with the practical matter of budgets and survival rather than with esoteric technical definitions.
It makes up two-thirds of the country's gross domestic product, but sometimes you'd hardly know it.