Rats in a cage

Everyone I know is scared. Workers' fear has generalized to their workplace and everything associated with work and money. We are caught in a spiral in which we are so scared of losing our jobs, or our savings, that fear overtakes our brains. And while fear is a deep-seated and adaptive evolutionary drive for self-preservation, it makes it impossible to concentrate on anything but saving our skin by getting out of the box intact.

Ultimately, no good can come from this type of decision-making. Fear prompts retreat. It is the antipode to progress. Just when we need new ideas most, everyone is seized up in fear, trying to prevent losing what we have left.

IHT

When a crowd panics, the fear of one person becomes a cascade, and the lowest common denominator isn't far behind.

Getting out of a recession -- this one was brought on by the Clinton-era inflation of our money using internet bucks, and then the stupid policies designed to help minorities get houses which put a big OK on dodgy loans -- is simple: keep the economy running, meaning keep producing value and pumping money into it to get the cycle started again.

Worst thing to do: seize up, and/or sell off your devalued stuff, but that's what 90% of the glorified chimpanzees we call humans are doing. LOL