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• Wednesday, April 2, 2008 11:25 AM

  To: Reality-based liberal

  Recessions aren't cured by a country's ability to produce something the rest of the world needs. They are cured by a PERCEPTION of value. Economies are like any commodity. Gold is a perfect example. Gold has no intrinsic value or benefit. But it has a PERCEIVED value. Humans have collectively agreed that gold is worth money. The more we believe it, the higher the price of gold. The less we believe it, the lower the price goes. If we all woke up tomorrow morning and collectively decided that there is no recession, there would no longer be a recession. But no one is willing to be the first to stick his neck out and spend money, hire an employee, buy a stock, etc. We're all hanging onto our pennies, waiting to see what everyone else will do. It's human nature. We all into self-preservation at the expense of the larger group.

  It's the same reason concentration camp victims remained captive. In Auschwitz, the prisoners outnumbered the guards 500 to 1. Obviously, it they would have all rushed the guards together, they could have easily destroyed the camp. But that would mean that the first few pto rush the guards would probably be shot and killed, even though the rest of the group would win. So each prisoner, as an individual, didn't want to be the first to risk anything. So they all sat around, waiting, hoping, waiting to see what would happen – and taking measures to try and protect ourselves over others. In a sense, that's what we're all doing now, in this so-called "recession."

  A recession isn't something that "happens" as much as it's something we "do."

  —aljackson Read aljackson's other letters
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