Rosy O.C.: It’s the Economy, or I’m Stupid

One out of three people told the pollster that life was going badly. Half the people thought it made no sense to buy a house. Even more depressingly, two out of three thought things wouldn’t improve in the future.

Where were these woebegone souls living? In a flypaper shack on the outskirts of Bismarck, N.D.? On a pontoon in the Everglades?

Would you believe Orange County, Calif., in the mid-1990s?

That’s correct, Bunky. That same idyllic enclave that now sports some of the most contented people on the planet, people so happy they have to go to Disneyland just to mellow out. A place where 92% of the people say that things are going well and three out of four say it’s going to stay that way or get even better.

An Idea With Currency

What’s happened? What changed?

Did we get some beaches? Did the sun start shining every day? Did the Angels win the pennant? Did rush hour disappear?

Nope. We’ve always had beaches and sunshine. We didn’t get rid of rush hour. The Angels did not win the pennant.

What’s different is that we didn’t always have a great economy.

But now we do, and we’re all happier than Peeping Toms at a pajama party.

My question: Is that all it takes to make us happy? Is a little jingle in our pocket the key to happiness?

The answer seems to be “Why, yes. Of course. Obviously.”

That’s the way I interpret the latest Orange County Annual Survey, which captures an increasingly optimistic county where residents are described by the pollsters as “overwhelmingly positive.”

That makes us sound like we’re a blessed people, that we’ve somehow discovered the ultimate gift: how to live contented lives.

If only that were true. I’d venture to say that what our current happiness shows is how much we rely on our incomes to be happy.

Don’t worry. I’m not getting all ascetic on you.

I like money as much as the next schlub. I just never claimed to be any happier, with or without it.

But most Orange Countians apparently make that distinction.

When asked to rate the quality of life in Orange County this year, 92% said it was going well. This comes in a year in which respondents also give the economy its highest rating of the decade.

In contrast, 68% said things were going well in 1995, the year the county grappled with the aftereffects of bankruptcy and in which respondents rated the local economy its lowest of the decade.

Disappearing Doom

Even in pre-bankruptcy times, though, Orange Countians have linked their happiness to the economy. In 1992, when residents also thought the economy was in a bad way, they responded with the lowest quality-of-life score for the entire decade, with 60% saying things were going well.

One more tidbit for your consideration. Remember several years ago, how illegal immigration dominated the local debates and how so many people foresaw doom for us all?

In 1996, 15% of the people surveyed thought immigration was our biggest local problem. The year before it was 16%. Has immigration, legal or illegal, gone away? Wouldn’t you expect it to remain a pressing problem? Well, when asked this year to name the biggest local problem, 5% identified immigration.

Cheryl Katz, a research associate who worked with poll conductor Mark Baldassare, politely demurs when it comes to my theory that the economy dictates our happiness.

“I don’t think you can prove it’s strictly a one-dimensional issue,” she says. “The economy is a large factor in people’s outlook . . . but you can’t say that’s all there is to it. There are a lot of things that feed into their lives.”

I grant her the demurrer, while still insisting I’m on to something.

I’ll admit I’m wrong when some future survey has this overall finding:

“Even with the Orange County economy in the toilet, 90% of us say life is good and is expected to get even better.”

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.