The Way We Live Now: Stably. The new economic thing is here, and that thing is stability. Car sales are stabilizing! Consumer confidence is stabilizing! One caveat: don't look for stability.

After 18 straight months of declines, consumer confidence may have hit its miserable bottom! Reuters did a poll that found that, while everybody around the around the world thinks their country's economy is in hell, fewer think their country's economy is in a hell that's getting worse. Which means: stability!

And car sales—those are important economic items! And guess what they show signs of? That's right, stability! Car sales in May were down precipitously from their levels a year ago, of course, but they were slightly up from their awful levels earlier in this year. Stabilization in effect! All it took was the bankruptcy of the world's biggest automaker.

What else is stabilizing? The opinions of Israeli bankers! The economic outlook of the Tampa Bay area! Just about everything important! Except for the opinion of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who "said large U.S. budget deficits threaten financial stability."

Besides that, all is stable now. Relax.