Don't Fear the Economy... Um... Anymore

After impassioned uses of the words "crisis" and "catastrophe," and after regularly invoking the dread of the Great Depression to hustle through the $787 billion "stimulus" bill, the Obama administration is cutting back on the fear quotient.

According to the AP via Yahoo "President Barack Obama's top economic adviser [Lawrence H. Summers] said Friday the nation's economic crisis has led to an 'excess of fear' among Americans that must be broken to reverse the downturn."

Really? I guess they got tired of the Dow tumbling every time Obama opened his mouth about the economy. I suppose Obama comparing the Dow Index to a campaign poll didn't really help matters either...

As Michelle Malkin noted, this reversal is bitterly funny. The question for me, is this obvious reversal due to ignorance and political naivety, or political pragmatism and cynical manipulation? Has the White House recognized its doom and gloom as a self-fulfilling prophecy and reversed policy? Or has the fear worked to pass the political payoff of the "stimulus" bill with the least amount of public outcry and now they've moved on to their budget? Doom and gloom will sell a "stimulus," but not the expenses of universal health care, govt. regulated green energy, and college subsidies.

In a a completely unrelated bit of news, China expressed some misgivings about reckless spending devaluing the dollar. Yeah... the Chinese know a little about command economies and socialism. They also own a trillion dollars worth of the America. Hmm...

UPDATE:

Check out this article on politico.com. Summers' quotes are liberally sprinkled throughout. Would someone please explain to me why greed is always attributed to the entrepreneurial process of making a living? I mean was Oliver Stone, the director of such magnificent films such as Alexander (complete with Irish accents and self-hating homosexual shame), JFK and Natural Born Killers, so successful with the whole Gordon Gecko line?

I guess the question is what is not greedy? A willingness to be taxed into the dirt and buying into The Great Leap Forward? Not questioning anyone in authority (when it's a socialist)? Come on...