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well, we could call it a panic

March 11th, 2009 at 03:50 am

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Depression, Recession, Great Recession, GD 2.0, Great Unpleasantness, Banana, Liverwurst?

That's the thing about euphemisms. The only control things for a little while, then everyone gets wise and you can't use the word anymore.

Its a bit like the George Carlin routine using the words shell shock, battle fatigue, post-traumatic stress.

We used to call what we are going through a panic - like the Panic of 1873. Then we stopped calling them panics because the powers that be figured we would panic if we called them a panic. So we called them Depressions ... if everyone was going to do what we called it, heck being depressed during a Depression made crowd control ever so much easier.

Then after the Great Depression, calling anything a depression meant it would be instantly compared to GD. So we called them recessions, and we came up with such hokey rules for them (2 consecutive quarters of negative growth) that we often got out of them by the time we called them. Well, if you are going to fudge - might just as well call it a banana, wink wink, or liverwurst.

Let's just call it a Panic - we live in interesting times, and despite the high-tech hot water we got into, the trouble is really old-fashioned. Too much of the economy was built on deception and fraud, now exposed, and that stuff has been around since time immemorial.

4 Responses to “well, we could call it a panic”

  1. PauletteGoddard Says:
    1236745139

    I think it's an Awakening, myself.

  2. baselle Says:
    1236749489

    Maybe. But both you and I were already awake. And I have the panicky, depressing feeling that sleepy time will come back in a few years. Most 'Mericans would prefer to be very asleep.

  3. Broken Arrow Says:
    1236789033

    I prefer to call it an opportunity. That which does not kill us will only allow me to buy it at a much cheaper price? Big Grin

  4. baselle Says:
    1236832248

    BA - And me also. Blood is beginning to trickle, so it is time to buy a little bit. But pace yourself - the market can stay crazier than you can stay solvent.

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