Economic chickens with their heads cut off

Just as the negative connotation was intended in reference to the general expression, in any situation, running around in a panic is never going to help you get through a situation effectively. Politically, it makes you seem wavering in the face of adversity and unreliable in commiting to a decision, socially, it conveys that you are probably not the best person to follow on the sinking ship and realistically, drains priceless energy with the opportunity cost of calm analysis and sound decision.

Being the sergeant spears of the group (Band of Brothers, HBO) or that nut who stockpiled space food packs in the desert when year 2000 hit only gets you a new years alone with space food in the desert or a cross in the ground with your name on it. The bright side of course is that if you happen to be right, well, you can say you told everybody so.

None of this is to support an anti-prudent mentality, but more to stress the emphasis on truly thought out and conscious decisions. As a person who is often only operating with the speeds of either 0 or 120mph and has come to embrace my extremity, my advice is that if your going to be aggressive, just be resolved to the real reprecussions of such action.

The economic trouble so far has been manageable, he said. “Things were worse in the ’70s than they are now.”

Most experts say the U.S. economy seems stronger than it was in the shaky ’70s, more flexible and —- most important during an energy crisis —- more efficient.

The economy is about half as dependent on oil as it was at the time of the first oil shock in 1973, said Robert Whaples, chairman of the economics department at Wake Forest University.

“The ’70s were a period of pretty slow productivity growth,” he said. “There are important parallels between the two periods, but I don’t think we will get double-digit unemployment or double-digit inflation rate.”

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