The Recession Slide

Everyone seems to be using the term these days. Greenspan says we're doing it. Pundits say we're doing it. I understand that those who feel in a position to influence the economy - generally those who make a profit off how the public perceives it - are loathe to use the R word, lest they create a general perception that creates the condition it describes. But people I know have been tightening their belts for some time, now. Gas has been pretty far up for over a year, heating a house in winter is expensive, people fear losing their jobs, foreclosures are at a high, and everything gets more expensive. What the hell did the experts think about public perception? That everything was fine and dandy? People badly want things to be better, and yet see a greater and greater share of the common wealth being held by the relatively few. To play into fear and hope for your own purposes is a dangerous and dirty business. Those who are at the top of the economic food chain should remember that there have been periods of reckoning, whether a depression or heavy-handed regulatory interference, because politicians are even more scared of the public than the well-to-do. You can win for a long time at some games, but eventually your number comes up and you have to pay. Better to deal more honestly with things than to try putting a bright face on for too long.