[hazelnut]

Originally Posted by kjbathe

Disclaimer: Rarely am I classified as an optimist, so I'm a little surprised that I'm about to write this, but....

I'm just not on board with the continued predictions of doom and gloom, a nation, a region, an economy on the brink of collapse. Folks, snap out of it!!! Yes, gas prices are high. Yes, folks are on a budget. But this manufactured sense of a mortgage and lending crisis created last summer to precede the national primary contests was bogus. 97% of mortgage holders have continued to pay on time! The crisis would have been if our folks in Washington decided to bail them out.

We are not in a recession. We haven't even had a single quarter of negative growth. Slow growth? To be sure, but it's GROWTH of our economy. Exports remain strong. Unemployment continues to be historically low. Gas prices are high, but WE HAVE GAS. This isn't the 70's where we're restricted to buying only $2 per pump. Mortgage interest rates are still in the low 6's! SIX!!! Not 13 percent. Not 18 percent.

I know it's all the rage these days to mope around in our big state of woe-is-us, but shame on us!

If everyone is convinced the sky is falling and tourism will be down and our economy is in the hopper, then it becomes self-fulfilling. So let's not go there. Look at all the investors that are gobbling up properties on the cheap as we bounce off the bottom of this dip. This is not our Grandparent's Great Depression in spite of the talking heads that would have us believe it is so.

So enough with the dire predictions and gloomy outlooks. I'm with COWISLAND and loving the fact the lake is quiet again. You folks need to get off the sidelines, put your boats in the water, get to the lake, SNAP OUT OF IT and start having a great summer already!

[Rant Mode: Off]

I think this post is pretty spot on. I think the biggest problem with our current state of affairs is one thing.... THE MEDIA! Now funny as it may seem I make my living as a Media Arts Teacher and I guess it's ironic that I would slam the very business I train people for. I have to say though as a culture we are so over-newsed it isn't even funny. If the Pope farts we see 24 hour coverage. The economic "woes" make for such good fodder it's all we see. Not to say things are all roses and sunshine but we do need to keep some perspective here. Realize that the info you are being fed is driven by a money making machine that only gives a damn about making one thing and that's $money$.
Personally, I'll curtail my gas spending this summer for sure but I aint curling up in the fetal position sucking my thumb in my basement just yet. I will be having a mostly normal summer where I dine out here and there and visit a few stores and shop. I'll also take the kids to the Weirs and I'll bring them for Ice Cream and such. So I really don't expect any major changes this summer.