AN USAGE PUZZLE

Over the last couple of weeks, I've read or heard about the financial crisis spilling over into the "real economy" and here are a few recent examples:

Meanwhile, in the real economy...
Oct 16th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Leaders in Britain say recession is likely
By Julia Werdigier
Published: October 22, 2008
International Herald Tribune

Attention is now shifting from the banking crisis to the real economy and "we are far from the end of the road back to stability," he said.

Dow sinks 514 on louder warnings of a recession
By ELLEN SIMON – 2 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Even with the aggressive steps the government has already taken, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told interviewer Charlie Rose on Tuesday that Americans would "have a number of difficult months ahead of us in terms of the real economy."

There's one sense in which "real" means "producing goods" and that makes some sense but what is puzzling is why we so often hear about the wonders of the "financial engineering" done by the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street and elsewhere - wasn't that supposed to be as real as it gets for the Free Market Fairy believers?