Nom de Plume

And here I was, feeling pretty good. The antibiotics have cleared up my pneumonia, there IS an end in sight on all my work, and I’m having a good time with my mom. But the headlines!

“It’s official: Recession since Dec. ‘07″; “Long, painful recession is likely”; “Jobs: Labor Pains”; “Stocks fall sharply on consumer spending worries”; “Bernanke: Economic weakness to continue”; “JPMorgan Chase to cut 9200 WaMu jobs”; “Manufacturing hits 26-year low”; “Semiconductor Industry Slumps On Slow Demand”

Need I go on? Cause I could.

Okay, I won’t.

It’s bad. No question. (And this is a GREAT explanation of how we got here, if a bit out of date at this point.) But here’s my question: How much MORE wary does the media make us? I mean, you turn on the evening news, and it’s all about murders and mayhem. You look at news online, and it’s all grim beyond belief. Would more of us be going out and spending money if we weren’t always focused on how bad things are?