Strange Signs The Economy Is Improving

5 5 Strange Signs The Economy Is Improving Men are buying new anderwear A weird favorite of economists is doing better .2 More couples are splitting up 3 There are more fresh fuces .4 Forget the housing market and consumer confidence index. Instead of sifting through the glut of economic data out there, look around! Unexpected signs of economic recovery are Utilities are lasing their best customers 5 popping up everywhere. Men are buying new underwear A weird favorite of economists is doing better I. 2. Even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan subscribed to this one. During In 2007, RV manufacturers accurately predicted the U.S. economy was tough times, men tend to skip out on buying headed for recession when they noted RV shipments had fallen for the new underwear. When the economy tanked in 2009, sales on boxers and briefs fell 2.5 first time in six years. RV sale declines also preceded recessions in the early 80s, early 90s, and 2001, which has cemented this $14.5 billion percent. But today, underwear sales are up. industry's reputation as an economic bellwether. Despite high gas prices now, RV sales have been better of late, partly because people 2011 are traveling shorter distances and with less planning-a trend being +4.8% Compared to Year Prior reinforced by rising airfare. Men's $1.6 billion RV shipments Under Tops Sales: $400,000 Men's Underwear Sales: $2.58 billion $350,000 $300,000 Estimated +5.2% Compared to Year Prior $250,000 $200,000 (In the 12 months ending in August 2011) $150,000 $100,000 $50.000 3. More couples are splitting up 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Simply put, divorce is expensive. So when the economy took a turn for the worst, unhappy couples ended up putting up with each other for a little longer. Fed data is slow to come out, but some are already suggesting that more people are seeking divorces now that the economy's looking up. 4 Face lifts are seeing a lift No one really needs a face lift, so we can count this as an elective cosmetic procedure. And when times are tough, fewer people opt to go under the knife. However, if more re-sculpted noses and wrinkle-free faces are a sign of an improving economy, we're headed in the right direction. Face Lift Procedures Matrimonial lawyers who saw a drop in the number of divorce filings # of Procedures 118,414 112,933 103,625 112,955 119,026 (2008 to 2009) 150,000 57% 120,000 90,000 Change in divorce rate during economic downturn From 2006 to 2009 -7% 60,000 -7% 30,000 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 -0 V Hopeful signs of failed marriages: "Over the last six months [leading into Feb. 2011], the activity in our firm has probably picked up by 20, 25 percent." – Year 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Sandy Ain, a divorce lawyer in Washington, DC. 5. Utilities are losing their best customers Although analysts predict most utilities will see record profit increases in 2012 due to rate hikes, a record number of U.S. homeowners and businesses installed solar systems in 2011 and were more likely to do so if they had higher-than-average electricity bills. And while solar manufacturing struggled in 2011 due to Solyndra's failure and an oversupply of solar parts worldwide, it was good news for U.S. consumers who benefited from lowered overall installation costs, In 2011 the number of U.S. solar installations grew by 109 percent and the Number of States Installing Over 50 Megawatts of Solar average price of a solar system fell 20 percent, making it a historic year for solar. 2009: 2 2010: 5 2011:8 PV Installations 2010 887 MW 2011 1,855 MW (109% growth) HOne Block JOff the Grid 01 SOURCES: BUSINESS INSIDER, NPD GROUP CES NEWS, NPR, SLATE, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLASTIC SURGEONS, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF MATRIMONIAL LAWYERS, IBIS WORLD, AVIA.ORG, CNBC, SEIA.ORG THE SMART, NEW WAY TO GO SOLAR HTTP://1BOG.ORG