While I am not a dedicated active follower of economic data, it is always good to have good sense of what is happeneing. Although the data produced over the last year is some of the worst in decades, for the most part, the data is being compared to the year prior.
The problem with this is that it was obvious that 2008 data was going to be worse than 2007; however, now more than ever will economic data mean something.
Is the economy getting better? Are more people becoming unemployed? 2008 saw some of the worst data ever. If numbers are not higher, than we know that we probably have yet to hit a bottom.
So regardless of whether you followed economic data in the past, it may do you some good to pay a little bit more attention to it in 2009.
Just a little something to mull over.