At the start of Scene Six, a part of the heading mentions Allen Iverson starting his playoff journey with the Philadelphia 76ers. To us, being from Michigan, this didn’t feel that relevant, but to the people of Reading, Pennsylvania, this was huge. Just last season they had lost the Eastern Conference Finals, and this year they were back in the playoffs hoping to win it all with their star player, Allen Iverson, leading the way.
At the same time, with unemployment dropping to its lowest ever, consumer confidence must have been at an all-time high during this period. Since Reading is in Pennsylvania, people there likely felt a strong connection to the team’s success. However, at the same time many of these factory workers didn't even know the owners were planning on replacing them with cheaper international labor. When a local team wins, people often spend more on celebrations, especially at bars or restaurants. That excitement, combined with job security from a low unemployment rate, likely encouraged even more spending.
All of these details reminded me of the Consumer Sentiment Index, which measures how confident people are in the economy. It is often used to judge how federal policies might adjust interest rates as well as how much people are willing to spend at the time. During the time of the chapter, May of 2000, the index was at an all-time high of almost 105 compared to today’s index of 55. That means consumers were almost twice as confident in the economy back then. This was an important detail to discuss to truly understand the psychology of the American people at the time.
I like how your blog post was able to capture the duality of the economic situations playing their course around us everyday. The people who may even be in the same state as you could be living a different truth, different life, and in general have a different perspective on what is surrounding them. It is crazy to think about the difference in mindset people may have 5 miles away from each other.
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