When you shout at people “be confident,” you shouldn’t expect them to be anything but terrified.

Confidence and trust. Fully compromised. Is it really supposed to be that simple. Tell the banks to lend money. Tell the people that it is ok to shop. Offer the people more credit. Or you could make the accounting rules more friendly to the free fall in asset pricing - i.e., mark to market. Have you seen that the CC companies are looking to work with you on managing your CC debt, even possibly foregoing some of the principal?

I got the subject line from the Micheal Lewis and David Einhorn piece in NYT Opinion. I found it to be worth reading. It adds further perspective to Michael's "The End" that appeared in Portfolio's December 2008 issue. Michael is the author of Liar's Poker. He exited Wall Street a full two years before the collapse and wrote about the dealmaking. Seems to me that not a lot has changed. The way of doing things has not changed. The mentality has not changed. Will it change now? The expectation is that shopping will continue, credit will be given and life will go on. The life will go on part is ok by me. The other parts are the source of our global angst. Unwind to days gone by. Living within our means. That does not mean without risk, but for a risk level that you can live with, even if things turn sour.