American Pessimism and the Recession
The relationship between optimism, pessimism and the economic downturn is a fascinating one. I’ve blogged before about how some American thinkers have tried to blame the recession on a surplus of optimism, untempered by the sense of realism that pessimism brings. But it now seems that too much pessimism is bad for you too. In fact, increasingly, the US is positively – or should...
Read MoreIt’s All Greek Junk Bonds To Me!
It’s not often one gets to say it but… I feel sorry for the Germans. Why should they have to pay up billions because the Greeks want to retire at 53 and get paid extra for arriving at work on time? I’ve listened to and read some pretty intricate analyses of how the Greeks got themselves into this mess and whether their contagion risk will spread to the UK. I’ve...
Read MoreRecession Survival
I spoke last week to a teacher whose husband’s employer was dealing with the recession by avoiding making excess stock, but taking real stock of staff training needs and using the down time to cater for them. At a time when training budgets are being cut along with everything else, I was dead impressed at the far-thinking of an owner killing two birds with one stone, as it were, by...
Read MorePessimism, Realism and the Recession
An Australian psychologist has claimed that feeling grumpy ‘is good for you’. At least that’s the spin the popular media put on the findings of Professor Joe Forgas of the University of South Wales. What the guy actually says is a little more nuanced. His claim is that there are some advantages to negative moods, just as there are to positive moods. For instance, negative...
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