As we learned recently while enrolled in business school*, there are these things that economists call “countercyclicals.” This means that it is moving against the larger trends, kind of like salmon swimming up stream. When everything else looks bad, countercyclicals are doing great. For instance, with all the Wall Street bailouts getting tossed around and the fear that banks will fail, now is a good time to be in the home safe business.
You know what else turns out to be countercyclical? We’ll give you three clu…oh, you guessed running? Correct!
Check this out: just this weekend, the Cleveland Marathon set an event record for most participants. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, two new marathons are about to be run for the first time. So while the rest of the economy is going down the port-o-john, running is on the rise!
Which got us thinking: does running offer the best bet for the world to pull out of this nosedive? We think the evidence is pretty conclusive. Think about it–if everyone started running in competitive road races, first off we’d need to start pumping out more running shoes. Also, we’d need to improve the infrastructure so that there are enough suitable routes to handle all the new runners. Then, there’d be a boost to agriculture, as farmers would have to start ramping up their production to meet the hefty carbohydrate requirements. We’d have to employ thousands upon thousands of people to trail behind the racers and clean up all the discarded water cups and energy packs. Finally, retail outlets would see a boom as all the skinny runners have to buy wardrobes to replace their old, baggy clothes. It’s a win-win-win!
We think we’re really on to something here. Does anyhow know the phone number for the White House?
*AKA Wikipedia.
Tags: Economic Recovery, Running
