Economists, bankers and CEOs often base their views of the economy on statistics and trends, aggregating data from across the nation to assess the health of the U.S. private sector.
But these views don't always match up with what the everyday, so-called "nine-to-fiver" is seeing. To get both sides of the story, there's this series -- Coffee Shop Economy Talk -- where random Alabamians are asked to share their own views.
When asked to assess the health of the economy, the grad student at UAB, currently working toward her master's degree in public administration, says it "needs help."
The student herself is doing well enough -- "surviving," she calls it -- considering she has a roof over her head, and can afford to enjoy a cup of coffee between classes. But the debt from student loans looms, and the parts of the economy to which she is personally exposed are facing challenges.
She recently spent time working with a local association of architects, for example, and has seen that industry take its share of hits. Many firms in that industry are continuing to receive work, she says, but a significant share also lack a backlog of work, meaning their futures are uncertain. And many in the profession who enjoyed good times before the recession are now jobless, she says.
More recently, she has been spending time supporting the efforts of a local nonprofit, and can see firsthand how consumers are responding to the current state of things. "People are watching where they spend their money," she says -- posing a threat to organizations that lack a major national presence, such as United Way or the YMCA. Those firms without national recognition are having a hard time maintaining financial support, she says.
Is the government taking the right steps to help the economy improve? She sees the value in social programs, but has questions about their implementation. "They are necessary," she says, "but I think they're abused regularly."
She has a similar viewpoint on student loans: They are good in the sense that they can help students lift themselves up, but she worries that not enough borrowers are taking their debt loads seriously. Specifically, she thinks students that either are considering or have already dropped out should think twice before walking away with thousands in debt and no degree to show for it.
As for the performance of the current president specifically, she thinks Obama "did the best he could with what he was given," but was also disappointed with the amount of time and effort he spent on the issue of health care. "His timing was off," she says.
Across Alabama and in Birmingham, she sees a lack of commitment to education, and a gross disparity in funding between schools located just a few miles apart. But she does give local officials credit for having attracted manufacturing jobs to the state, including those brought here by Airbus.
When asked about how to solve these challenges, the concept she proposes is activism. "I'm not about to go burn my bra," she says, but she sees differences in the way her generation responds to dissatisfaction compared to the generations that have preceded hers. "There were a lot more protests, and people standing up for what the believe in," she says. Good government helps, she says, but ultimately the responsibility for making things right lies with citizens.