Really.
I had not even seen that article before now. I brought numbers in from reliable sources, and drew conclusions from them to counter anecdotal statements that were a bit all-encompassing to start with. How many of us know what the economic situation of everyone around us is? Is that perception really more accurate than the statistics?
And if it is about perception, than Gramm has a point, doesn't he?
It might be comforting for you to imagine I'm some kind of mindless sock puppet, simply echoing what's in the papers I don't read, and the television I don't watch. It's certainly easier than marshalling any kind of coherent or real argument against the facts.