Economic Indicators (the Tasty Kind)
by Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball & PinballSales.com
“It’s the economy, stupid,” is a phrase coined by Clinton campaign strategist James Carville in 1992. And, it’s certainly relevant today. If it’s not on your business mind, it’s on your personal mind. Seemingly, there are rising prices on everything and no relief is in sight.
How are you and your business coping with the current economy? Are you raising your prices to keep up with your rising costs?
I’m no economist but it seems that The Fed is famously behind the curve and trying to catch up by raising interest rates. That slows down housing as mortgage rates rise along with borrowing costs for our businesses.
Many of us remember double-digit interest rates but this time, I’m predicting that the Fed starts lowering rates by the first quarter of 2023.
Good times don’t last forever and neither do bad times. We should be set up for some recovery early next year.
I’d even say the fourth quarter of this year may see the start of a recovery.
The usual solution for high gas prices – people deciding to drive less – isn’t going to happen this time. Remember, everyone was locked down and shut in for two years. They’re traveling at any cost!
I went to a local bagel store the other day. I can always gauge the economy by a bagel shop. Prices were higher and the hole in the bagel was bigger!
Double whammy. What can I do? I like bagels! My thought is that you’re still better off keeping the quality and quantity of your product or service rather than shrink the product and raise the price.
But, when the day comes when I see that the hole gets smaller and the bagel gets fatter, I’ll know we are on the road to economic recovery!
Jack Guarnieri started servicing electro-mechanical pinball machines in 1975 and has been involved in every phase of the amusement game business since then. He was an operator in NYC, then began a distributorship in 1999, PinballSales.com, selling coin-op to the consumer market. In January of 2011, he founded Jersey Jack Pinball (named after his RePlay Magazine pen name), which builds award-winning, full-featured, coin-op pinball machines. Email Jack at jack@ jerseyjackpinball.com.
