Late comedian George Carlin's classic weatherman routine stated the obvious in meteorological terms: “Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely scattered light toward morning.”
The same can be said about the economy. Some key indicators suggest scattered light: slowly rising home sales and values, increased car sales spurred by the federal “cash for clunkers” program, a slowdown in mass layoffs. On a macro scale, the Federal Reserve is slowing down its purchase of $300 billion in Treasury securities, which helped keep rates low on mortgages and other loans.
In the insurance sector, it's still continued dark. The most recent numbers show that insurance industry employment is still down, behind the economy in general (for a look at how AA&B readers are economizing, see the results of our exclusive online survey on page 40). Forget the stock market; real economic recovery is built on what employers are doing. If people are unemployed or worried about losing their jobs, the economy will remain in the doldrums.
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