You’ve probably heard the phrase tossed casually about by political commentators or business news reporters – “we need a new normal,” “families began experiencing a new normal in housing over the last year,” “this could turn a bad recession into the new normal” – but when, if ever, have you heard the phrase actually explained; not as some abstract idea but in terms of what it means to everyday working people? I hadn’t. So I did a little research and was disgusted by what I found. To you and I, this “new normal” to which the televised talking heads so glibly refer apparently means that our nation’s economy won’t get any better, lots of us will always be unemployed, and we’d just better get used to it.

Purchase the rest of this column for one-time use in your newspaper, magazine, newsletter, or other publication.

“From Under My Hat” is a general opinion column produced on a weekly basis and available for one-time print publication purchase. Each column below, for which the title and opening paragraph are reproduced here, runs between 500-600 words each. Permission for print publication of a single installment (please see the disclaimer below) of any of the columns listed here can be purchased for $25.00 per ; simply follow the link at the end of each introductory paragraph.

The name From Under My Hat is a trademark of J. Riutta Enterprises LLC. Copyright is also asserted to all content of the essays referenced above with all rights reserved. Purchase of permission to publish any of these essays in print is for a single appearance of the essay in one print publication per purchase. No rights of ownership are transferred with the purchase nor is duplication in any other media allowed.