Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: Signs of an incoming recession: hemlines

Not in a lurid way. But in a macroeconomic data-gathering way, because there are a couple of longtime theories we can use to predict the future. The first is the hemline of dresses.

The better the times, the higher the hemline

When the economy goes south, businesses suffer, people lose their jobs, the stock market stumbles, and hemlines move toward the floor.

Now granted, Utah might not be the best place to measure how long your skirts are, but generally speaking, as the economy stumbles, kneecaps disappear. Then calves, then ankles.  In good times, miniskirts are the rage. Maybe not that much in Utah, but you get the idea.

The other indicator when the economy’s going gangbusters: faster songs dominate the charts. Fun music, with lyrics that don’t matter. Flo Rida’s “Low” made numbers in 2008, right before the economy cracked.

When the Great recession hit, and stocks went low low low, music became slower. More reflective. Like it is now. A current hit is Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather.”

In this clip, Billie Eilish and Bruno Mars sing about the end of the world.

That’s an economic indicator. All you can do is be ready and hope the administration gets a leg up on the situation.