Part of the reason I was gone was the busiest summer of my life- culminating in my 20th high school reunion, which I helped organize. What does this have to do with the Sunday funnies, and economics? Because I learned a micro economic lesson when I was there: In hobbies lie the basis of a bottom up re-creation of American Manufacturing.

In this case, Beer. The Onion story may not be that far off. Some old friends of mine, who ended up marrying into each other's families, found themselves all unemployed four year ago. With seven daughters between them and either marriages or college to pay for in the future, unemployment now was a bit of a problem. Luckily, one of them was into homebrewing beer- and another was into marketing. My hometown now has Seven Brides brewery- a small microbrewery, that actually manufactures enough to raise the girls the beers are named for, plus a little extra that goes into each girl's college/marriage fund.

I've heard a similar story about JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series- that without a layoff and unemployment period, The Philosopher's Stone, later retitled for the American Market, would never have been written.

So maybe there is something to the old economic theory that unemployment frees up resources for other uses.  I just don't think they will be high tech ones- or ones for export, or even in the case of Seven Brides which has yet to market in bottles instead of kegs and to retail outlets instead of bars, the general public.