Two thoughts on ’01

At least some financial experts expect the U.S. economy to improve this year and that’s welcome news. We’ve heard enough Enron horror stories to last a lifetime.

Sept. 11 took a toll, too, on optimism regarding the economy and stock market. Almost every industry has felt a pinch from 9-11. But our nation is resilient; things will inevitably improve.

If Americans will start traveling and spending money in other ways, things will turn around even more quickly.

Several industries (particularly home entertainment, video games and video rentals/sales) actually experienced a boom.

Californians apparently made a big difference in the so-called energy crisis. But according to a continuing PR campaign by the energy industry, we should continue to conserve electricity (although we don’t remember anyone telling us to kill the holiday lights, which would have been a major source of saving electricity).

The relatively cool summer helped, too—maybe more than conservation.

We’re still being warned about blackouts, but somehow the campaign seems to lack a sense of urgency.

Gov. Gray Davis is either to be credited or blamed for his policies. On one hand, blackouts were a bust. On the other hand, we’re still paying a premium for electricity.

Given a choice between getting gouged or coping with rolling blackouts, we’ll take the former.

But we predict someone will tell us during the gubernatorial election cycle that we could have avoided both.