I work in a newspaper office. I know the global economy has issues. Seemingly half the news stories in any edition of the International Herald Tribune are about the economy. Financial doom and gloom have been staples in the paper since I got here, nearly three months ago.

But I don’t really see it. I don’t actually feel it. Not here in Hong Kong.

I know “panic” is a word that may apply in some parts of the world. Job losses, wrecked savings, savaged portfolios. The Big Three might go under, and financial institutions are teetering …

But because I’m not one of those guys who checks the status of his 401 (k) every day, and tries not to do the zillow.com test on his meager properties, and was laid off back in March (and actually is employed right this second) … I have been shielded from much of the emotion of the moment.

A lot of that is about Hong Kong, too.

Maybe the good burghers of HK sit around and complain all day about how awful business is. In Cantonese, of course.

But I don’t see that worry, or feel it, on the streets. Maybe because I speak only English.

Maybe because the “global recession” hasn’t really washed over Hong Kong yet. Not in a way I can measure.

It is the Saturday before Christmas, and it is chaos out on the streets here on HK Island. Saturdays always are, by far, the busiest days here, with crowds of people on every street. But this is better/worse than usual.

It is people bustling around, doing their weekly shopping. But it also is people doing holiday shopping.

For the past few weeks, I’ve noticed them out late. Shoppers. Shopping.

On the subway ride back to Wan Chai, huge crowds pile onto the train at Causeway Bay — the station closest to the shopping area known as Times Square. They are carrying big bags from stores you have heard of, big-name brands. Not Wal-mart.  Some have packages already wrapped.

The parcels are so big, they consumers have trouble carrying them. They sorta fumble them in and out of the cars. And you wonder how they are going to fit inside of their (presumably) tiny apartments. And this is at 10 p.m.  Tens of thousands of Hongkongers. Out. Shopping.

Somebody, clearly, has some money to spend.

Anyway, you wonder how bad the economy here is, if the train is taking on so many shoppers that we’re almost shoulder to shoulder for the next few stops.

Hong Kong, it is becoming clear to me, is mostly about business. It’s what people do. In some cases, it seems as if it is all they do. They work monstrously long hours, 10, 12 hours a day, and they often work six days a week. I’m sure some work seven.

This is the land of the little mom-and-pop store, and mom and pop are still open for business, selling things cheap, making money, because they know their business model. It isn’t a manufacturing center, so it’s not as if some assembly line just went dark. It doesn’t depend on commodities, so slumping oil prices don’t hurt anyone. Hong Kong isn’t a huge tourist destination, so it’s not as if people not coming here is hurting them. And the ones who remain still want their noodles and dumplings and new clothes.

Hong Kong alleges to be in recession — as does everyone else on the planet. But I don’t feel it. I am fairly confident I would feel the fear if I were home. Over here, I don’t.

Maybe that’s good. To be insulated, whether out of failure to comprehend, or because HK — and Asia — aren’t doing as badly as most of the rest of the modern world.

Ultimately, we can’t worry too much about things we can’t control, and unless we’re the president or the chairman of the Federal Reserve, there isn’t much of anything any of us can do about The Big Picture, other than be prudent.

Here? Prudence seems to be down the list of concerns. I see money being spent. I see stores with lines just to get inside. The economy here looks pretty good.

Recession? Don’t feel it on this side of the Pacific.