Maybe the economy’s not as bad as it seems

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a cat in a box of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - The economy is [just right for the Fed](. But [not for Congress](. - Europe doesn’t have a gas problem. It has [a gas-delivery problem](. - It may be time to [build some more supply chain](. - Evergrande may be [full of surprises](. A relevant cat tweet, sort of. Is the Economy Good, Bad or Indifferent? Yes. The U.S. economy is Jay Powell’s cat, which is like Schrödinger’s cat, except it’s not only both alive and dead, but also may or may not have a crystal meth addiction. Right now the economy is one of three things: - In for another slog like the 2010s, an era that broke the millennial generation and also democracy. - Just fine, aside from a spot of bother about Covid and supply chains and such. Relax. “Squid Game” is fiction! - Oops, it’s the 1970s again. Hope you like 17% mortgage rates. The September jobs report offered evidence for each possibility: - Payrolls failed to meet Wall Street’s finely tuned guesstimates, a score for Dark Lord Slog. - Unemployment fell because people quit the labor force, but that could just be a delta-variant thing. Maybe the porridge is just right. - Wages kept skyrocketing, enough to make Commissioner Gordon nervously run his fingers through the dust on the old Volcker Signal. On balance, the report probably changed few minds at the Fed, which is [still on track to stop buying quite so many bonds]( this year, writes Brian Chappatta. Buying mortgages doesn’t exactly encourage people to apply for restaurant or school-bus-driver jobs anyway, unless it’s with extremely long and variable lags. And running back to QE at the slightest sign of trouble could open up the [Fed to more accusations it’s too lax about inflation](, writes Allison Schrager. Decades of low inflation (see “2010s, slog of,” above) have trained a generation to expect more of the same. But expectations can always change, and then look out.  As much of a quantum physics problem as this may be for the Fed, it’s second-grade math for Congress, writes Mohamed El-Erian: The country [needs an infrastructure overhaul to address its supply-chain]( and labor problems, and it needed it a decade ago. Some of the bigger Build Back Better bill could help with this too, though Bloomberg’s editorial board suggests [Dems should be more open about its costs and limitations](. Sometimes we just have to know: What’s [in the box](? Europe’s Winter Will Not Be a Gas, Gas, Gas The way natural-gas prices are spiking in Europe, you’d think the stuff was as scarce as toilet paper in America. And there is less of it in European tanks than usual, writes Liam Denning. But there’s still kind of a lot — more than enough to get Europe through a normal winter. Of course, “normal” is doing heavy lifting here. Europe’s system may have plenty of gas, but [lacks the ability to get it from place to place quickly](. That could lead to more price spikes and outages if the weather gets weird. Fortunately that [never happens](. [Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban have offered some helpful suggestions](, because they’re just super-helpful guys. But Andreas Kluth suggests Europe might want to ignore them. Putin would have Europe depend even more on Russian gas, while Orban would have it pretend global warming isn’t happening. Not actually helpful! Further Low-Energy Europe Reading: [Finland, with its mix of energy sources](, offers a model for avoiding crunches. — Lionel Laurent Telltale Charts Supply hangups are [forcing America’s manufacturers to build more supply](, Brooke Sutherland writes, but supply hang-ups also make building supply harder. Got it? Further Reading Evergrande and other Chinese developers may have [planted little hidden time bombs]( by borrowing through shell companies. — Shuli Ren [Facebook’s algorithm is just too big to fix](. You can only hope to contain it. — Cathy O’Neil Even a partisan Supreme Court might have [good reasons not to save Donald Trump]( from his legal woes. — Jonathan Bernstein A [Nobel Peace Prize for journalists]( couldn’t have come at a better time, with journalists at risk around the world. — Clara Ferreira Marques Elizabeth Holmes is being [punished for not marrying Sunny Balwani](. — Stephen Carter Feeling [tied to your current job by stock options](? You don’t have to be. — Alexis Leondis ICYMI Nordic countries keep [suspending Moderna vaccinations](. Rich kids are using a [tax program for low-income people to buy New York real estate](. Eleven [secrets you learn working at Disney World](. Weekend Listening Faye Flam podcasted with [Neil DeGrasse Tyson](. Kickers Please [stop calling the “Squid Game](” phone number. (h/t Ellen Kominers) [Multitasking doesn’t work](. [Melting ice stays smooth](, says math. Watch [moths fly in slow motion](. Photographer: Gongloff, Mark Photographer: Gongloff, Mark Notes:  Please send ice and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. 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