ABSTRACT
Alas, economic matters rarely seem to be a solid source of shared contentment. As the outcome of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections indicates, the country remains equally divided on the question of whether or not the American economy was headed in the right direction. This down-the-middle division leads to an obvious conclusion (and one completely independent of who won and who lost the election): A great many Americans are uncertain about their nation's economic future. In fact, the uncertainty does not end there. Each thoughtful member of either side of the great divide in opinion has to wonder about what is going on in the minds of those who went the other way on the question of the "right direction."
