Before analyzing the Market please read.

[SafetyHippo]

You have an argument for the overall health of the economy, but I know the economy is bad for me because it's not worth my time to mine stuff or make jewelry.

I quit gathering/crafting because it was simply not worth the small amount of gil it generates. I also don't buy stuff from other players.

First off your failure to find profit in farming came from the fact that farming isn't competitive and is very easy in this game. If anyone can easily spend 10 minutes gathering any item they need, why buy it from you? Second, You failed to make profit selling jewelry, one of the simplest and obvious crafts in the game. Jewelry requires few materials and falls under one of the easiest skills to level in the game, the reason you couldn't turn a profit there had nothing to do with your economy it was poor career choice.