The main good that determines whether you think the economy is good or bad is slack. How much headroom is there between what you are going to buy and what you can afford to spend. 1/

You can lose slack because your real purchasing power declines, or because your needs expand. “Needs” are largely a function of structural facts and social norms. 2/

If you model spending only as discretionary choice, treat anything beyond the most basic food and shelter as expendable, as gravy, something optional or superfluous, you will never make sense of what human beings actually experience, and the ructions of behavior that results. /fin