All Hank, all the time.

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Not exactly. the cotton could be a bad crop even if you were confident.

The economy is good unless we think it won't be. It just seems like if we had better mental discipline, and were always "glass is half full", then it always would be.

I know what you mean. I have always believed that if my mental discipline had been better I really would have been able to fly after I took all that acid and jumped off the roof of the garage. It was my last minute doubts that sabotaged me.

Isn't the "consumer confidence" number a measure of how likely it is Americans will continue to spend money they don't have? What's the national savings rate these days? Negative two percent or something? My understanding of what's killing the Dow, et al, this week is the fear that unexpectedly high inflation numbers will lead the Fed to raise interest rates again. Which means it will be harder for consumers to borrow money to spend on cheeseburgers, SUVs and videogames. I have vowed not to look at my 401k balances until after the 30th of the month.