Measuring the Machine

I was caffeinated and feeling satisfied with the general direction of my life as I drove my commute home today.  This combination usually leads in-depth and meandering trains of thought, followed by self-congratulation for my latest clever conclusion about the world and the meaning of life.

During an NPR story comparing steel towns Gary, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the mention of unemployment rates triggered a mental trip to dig out the box labeled "Ruminations on the Economy," which is currently stored under a teetering stack of tubs and crates labeled "Christmas Gift Ideas" and "Next Semester's Lesson Plan Changes."

Of course the economy is top priority for many during these bleak times... but I suspect I take a different tack than many Americans when it comes to economic analysis.  Perhaps part of it is that I haven't personally been very effected by the economic depression, perhaps part of it is ignorance.

Whatever is to blame, I have to admit I don't view our economic downturn as a bad thing if it helps us refine and reform our ideas about what it means to have a healthy economy.

I could go into a whole explanation of why I think that our economy is based on a false sense of wealth and unrealistic expectations of ever-increasing consumerism... But I'm trying to recreate my train of thought, and it had already moved on to another idea: the concept of how we measure our economy, and why, and whether we should or should not stick with those particular scales.

I've never thought that GDP is a very foolproof way to measure an economy, especially since it leaves out large segments of what makes a country tick, economically.   For example, it was a big disappointment when I learned that all of my earnest schemes for money-making before the age of 16 were by definition insignificant as they fall into the category of the "informal economy."  And here I thought I was contributing.

I understand the importance of economic measures to our capitalist way of life, and I understand why America places so much weight on its paper trail of imports, outputs, and numerical growth patterns, but I protest those measures as ideal quantifiers of overall function of the country.  We leave out (and distort) so much when we define economic health so narrowly!

Thanks to my boredom with I-70, and my tendency towards narcissism, I began to brainstorm how I would structure the measure of national well-being if I was running the world.  I also came up with a few more units of measure that are, in my personal opinion, of the greatest importance in assessing the effectiveness of my personal economic function and welfare.

1. Chapstick Accessibility.  Does anyone else agree that it's hard to concentrate on anything when your lips are chapped?  Does anyone else struggle with the perennial loss-of-lipbalm malady, which seems to strike at the worst, most-chapped chapters of your day to day life?

At the moment, I might have partially solved this problem by A) building up my back-up chapstick supply, and B) designating one chapstick to each of several permanent strategic posts. By combining these two factors in some complicated formula, I could depict a cross-section of access to and effective use of material resources, as well as ingenuity of economic design.  Yes, all that from my ability to locate my tub of DCT when I need it most.

2. Prevalence of Random Acts of Kindness.  I find that if my stress-level is high, I tend not to be as aware of or empathetic to the little needs and wishes of those around me.  My stress-level varies inversely as my capability of sending thank you notes, opening doors, smiling at strangers, and doing the dirty dishes left in the teachers' lounge sink at work.  Today I did all four, so I'm scoring high on this particular measure.

Essentially, in my personal economy, a way to measure how well I am functioning is by measuring how much I am able to contribute positively to others' economies.... Hmmmmm food for thought.  

3.  Percent of Desk Showing.  Granted, some people like a cluttered desk.  But in the mini-economy of my life, open clear space is a sign of staying ahead of paperwork, minimized potential for loss of student assignments (a personal paranoia, thanks to bad experiences with a particular high school English teacher), and efficient and productive use of planning time at school.

In other workspaces, counter tops, ironing boards, and inboxes may be substituted for the "desk;" however, it should be noted that art and crafting workspaces should not be measured by this scale.

4.  Pages Read Before Falling Asleep.  I've developed a frustrating barrier to my impossibly-ambitious reading goals: books put me to sleep.  I love reading, but I have resorted to a little competition with myself about how many pages I can get through while lying in bed on my back (we have to have constants here)... before dropping the book on my face.

Less than one paragraph is a very bad sign.  On <1P days I have 99.9% need for sleep and recovery above all other pursuits, and minimum capability of interest in anything other than what is essential for surviving the next day at work.  Some days, when I have work under control, and I haven't been out too late at a Scholars' Bowl competition, and I had < 3 beers over the course of the evening, I conquer upwards of 5 pages of nonfiction enrichment!!  It means I'm functionally healthily, efficiently, and enabled to begin the next day's tasks with a jump start.  That's when I know things are going really well.

If your life was an economy, how would you measure your output and well-being?  What indicators would you add to this list?