Remember the television program Lost in Space?
There was a robot that would usually at times of relative tranquility begin shouting “Danger, danger, danger.” On this optimistic bright-side blog, I feel like a terrible Cassandra. My apologies to Rich and my cheerful colleagues. I have kept silent while Obama has had an incredible bear rally, but it is time for some more “realistic” comments.
Today, the Pew Research Center shows that Americans are not becoming more populist, but rather are quite optimistic about the future. For most of you this is a good outcome. We, as Americans, dare I say in deference to Rich, North Americans believe optimism is good. What could possibly be wrong here?
My concern is that this optimism and the Obama Administration-sponsored talks of “green shoots” in the economy is lulling Americans to sleep regarding the extraordinary seriousness of the economic crisis we are facing. Already, concerns regarding controlling executive pay at the banks, letting shareholders and lenders suffer from the business decisions they made to invest, and general moral hazard arguments have been forgotten even though the miscreants have received tens of billions of government funds through a myriad of programs, bailouts, and other mechanisms. This will come back to haunt us as the world economy takes another leg downward in the months to come.
This second leg downward, as the entire U.S. including California basically declare bankruptcy, will finally wipe crackpot optimism off the faces of Americans. It is only then that we will be able to become realistic about the circumstances that we face and begin the grim task of reregulating, rethinking the role of finance, and rebuilding our economy.
Rich has always and correctly warned of the problem with the “squelchers.” However, today in this economy full of crackpot optimists, Cassandras are an important social asset, if they can prevent suicide by the delusional. To put a point on it, when the robot warns of danger, foolish optimism is not a survival response.
How do you folks see the current economic conjuncture?