Is it Friday yet?

Lazy thoughts for hump day

How the Census Bureau sees us:

Courtesy of the US Census Bureau

I’m a southerner. I’ve lived in Georgia most of my life. I’m married (42 years and counting) with two children, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and a grandson. My father is 86 and still with us, as are two of his brothers and one sister. I have siblings who are fraternal twins.

My kids and my husband have no accent, mine is very faint. If you ask what kind of American I am, I say female American mutt.

How we sometimes divide ourselves:

Courtesy of CMG Lee and Wikimedia. CMG Lee has a lot of cool stuff on the site below. ¹

I’m fascinated by this chart. I’m a late boomer, my kids early millennials, and my grandchild belongs to Generation Alpha. I need to find some friends who are Gen Z, because I need to understand them. I remember being young during the Great Inflation, but I was middle-aged when I was born, so I treated my expectations as any one would. All I wanted was a job, a career—no longer a problem for a woman who was good with numbers, but didn’t have a clue—a family, and some money.

What I’m trying to figure out how to teach:

GDP = C + I + G + X - IM

I’m wrestling with the GDP equation and Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply. How do explain the concept of aggregate demand or supply in an accessible way without a graph or a video? Maybe I can’t, but I’ll try.

I have a cool chart for the equation, but I haven’t learned how to upload it yet. Add to todo list, Nikki.

How I think I was 61 + years ago:

My grandson Zack asking his daddy questions over pizza. (Video shot by my daughter-in-law.)

My mother’s answer: “You can read, look it up in a book.” She also refused to let me take a typing test, not understanding that I would never have to take a typing test for a job. I did have to have my fingerprints taken for a security clearance with one job and sign an oath that I would not foment unrest against the state of Georgia in the early 1980s. For another.

Pat on the back to Paul for real answers. (The answer probably was, “so I can eat it later.”)

How I see my self now:

…an economist with always something to learn and so many questions. I still ask why.

(My husband does not suggest I go pick up a book. He already knows I will.)

Thank you, Professors John Henderson, Rubin Saposnik and so many others at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA for helping me see how special the world looks to an economist. Thanks also to Professor Paula Stephan for pushing me to finish and welcoming me back to the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State And thanks to Jacob Chacko for taking a chance on me at Clayton State University in Morrow, GA.

Nikki

1. CMG Lee: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Cmglee