Panic

No hopeful news out of the presses all over the world today. But that lack of a hopeful sign may be the hope we need. So far all the plans, from the bailout to the insinuation of taking over the healthy banks temporarily, have not rallied the stock market or assured economists and even some heads of world government, so maybe we'd better be patient until the right people formulate something clearly progressive for everyone to understand. If we can grasp something here, we can at least stave off panic.

What does panic do? It's the worst possible emotion. It's fear SQUARED. Remember that we have laws that protect people from panic in public spaces: you cannot scream FIRE in a movie theatre. I watched panic once in horror in a breathtaking scenario. I had just arrived in France and turned on a local TV feed only to witness live video from Belgium when a panic broke out after a soccer game and people were being trampled to death. And this was only a soccer game. It went from enthusiasm at winning the game to over-excitement, to the beginning of a stampede rush, and finally escalated to a panic to AVOID getting crushed to death, which resulted in hundreds more getting crushed to death.

What does a panic do to the American economy? It grinds everyone to a standstill. On September 11th, 12th and for at least a week afterwards in 2001, very few people spent much money. We were even wary of traveling outside, much less purchasing good and services. We were in a numb panic. Osama bin Laden won by stopping the wheels for a brief time. This time if we remain calm we can actually think our way through this, solve it one piece at a time and look at the whole--global climates, global trade, global cooperation. For my sanity, i know there are worse days ahead, but the ease with which we transition to better days (and certainly they won't look like the last five to ten years) can be productive and satisfying. Calm leadership, genuine and thoughtful is called for all across this land. Vote Obama.