Best columns: Happy face, Unhappy talk

“We are nowhere near a depression,” says Irwin Kellner in MarketWatch, “so let’s stop talking ourselves into one.” “There’s nothing wrong with tryin

Put on a happy face

“We are nowhere near a depression,” says Irwin Kellner in MarketWatch, “so let’s stop talking ourselves into one.” Politicians, pundits, and the “nattering nabobs of negativism” in the press have been ramping up anxiety in recent weeks by using “scare words” like “chaos,” “spreading crisis,” and yes, “depression.” Sure, things are serious, but another Great Depression? Come on. We’re nowhere near that level of fiscal ill-health, and we have policies in place to make sure we won’t get there. The last scare word is “bailout.” This isn’t a bailout of Wall Street, or Main Street, or even the “fat cats.” It is an injection of liquidity, a line of credit to the Treasury, to unclog the financial markets. It will benefit us all.

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