NYTimes - Magazine Money Edition: The Sink-or-Swim Economy: "What's weird, and deeply unsettling, about today's economy is that the big picture bears so little resemblance to the small picture, that is, to everyday life. The big picture shows the economy tracing a gentle, rather lazy slope -- a few tenths of a percentage point up or down, nothing too drastic. Closer to ground level, meanwhile, the action is nonstop and frenetic. At any given moment, some people and businesses are enjoying outrageous good fortune. Others are falling under a rain of slings and arrows. "