Economic Optimism is misguided

All the actual economic news at the moment is negative, there's no clear path out of the recession in sight, and optimists have been made to look like idiots for two years running.The financial and real estate sectors got way too fat in the 2000s. They're shrinking rapidly, and our economy needs to find new drivers of growth and prosperity. - Time.com

SHOOT: This sort of article on economic optimism is particularly distasteful, and one wonders what the standards of reporting are at TIME if an article titled 5 REASONS FOR ECONOMIC OPTIMISM has, as its 5th reason: Ok I couldn't think of a fifth reason, and then goes on to prove the entire article is bogus and based on no facts.

clipped from www.time.com The Dow's descent below 7,000—for the first time since early 1997—was greeted with much wailing on Wall Street and in the media. That's understandable: the market's fall reflects a growing consensus that the current recession will be nasty, brutish and long—which it surely will be. And if you own stocks, you can't sell them for nearly as much as you could a couple of years ago or even a couple of weeks ago. But the recent fall in stock prices also means they are now, by just about every possible measure, fairly priced or downright cheap. clipped from www.time.com 2. The Government Is On The Case clipped from www.time.com 3. Consumers are Adjusting to the New Economic Reality — and Fast But as long as the consumer pullback doesn't spiral into an economic shutdown (that's where the government comes in), it is a healthy medium- and long-term development. clipped from www.time.com 4. Reinvention and Change are What the U.S. is All About clipped from www.time.com 5. O.K. I Couldn't Think of a Fifth Reason