In the age of unexpectedly

Glen Reynolds at Instapundit noticed that so many articles about the economy included the word "unexpectedly."

Frank Wilson tells us that we may be nearing the end of an age.

There is a distinct possibility that we are nearing the end of an age, an age most people are probably not even aware they have been living in:

The Age of Unexpectedly.

Never heard of it, right? Ah, but therein lies its beauty, the surpassing subtlety of it, as you shall see.

It is, of course, as with all historical periods, difficult to pinpoint exactly when it began. Perhaps the earliest sign was a Reuters story dated May 19, 2009, which reported that "new U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell to record lows in April . . . denting hopes that stability in the housing market was imminent."

It also took its time becoming manifest. The next sign was more than a month later, on June 30, 2009, when Reuters reported that "U.S. consumer confidence took an unexpectedly steep slide in June . . . suggesting the 18-month-long recession had yet to loosen its grip on the economy."

The Associated Press did its turn as well in 2009, reporting that "sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly tumbled in September," that "the Consumer Confidence Index . . . sank unexpectedly to 47.7 in October," and that "the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose" during the second week of December.

This has continued month after month, year after year.  Now why should this era end? Well, thanks to Mitt Romney finally being revealed to the American public in the first debate, we may possibly have a new President next year.

And should that happen, you may rest assured that the Age of Unexpectedly will come to an end. Good economic news, should it happen after the change of guard in January, will likely be taken for granted. And as for the bad news - well, what would you expect if there's a Republican in the White House?