I've said it before but i'm not above repeating myself: I like recessions. Not because I'm some masochistic zealot who believes we're being punished for our shameful ways or some analytic geek who assumes the system is working as it should, but because recessions are like breaking up with a bad boyfriend--we all need to go through this every once in a while to make sure our life is on track.
Once you get over weeping about how good things used to be and what your life could have been like if nothing had changed, you get the chance to start over. In this fresh start, no one expects much from you initially and everyone is sympathetic to your struggles. If you grieve too long for the past, a good friend (or caring blogger) will grab you by the scruff and say "pull yourself together, girl--that old economy's not worth whining over."
So we're all in the throes of a great big break-up. Think of our old economy as a bf who showered us with luxuries, loaned us money whenever we wanted it and let us think we were way richer than our bank account deserved. He's disappeared, without even a "goodbye" IM, leaving us with our own bills plus all of his. He wasn't the economy for us and we're better off without him.
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