Cartoon for March 30, 2009
It's true: financial markets are reacting favorably when bad news is less bad than previously forecast. If there's a better indication of a country in despair, I don't know what it is. We're pathetic.
Labels: depression
posted by Ted Rall at
12:01 AM
8 Comments:
It's called the second derivative.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2009/03/the_second_derivative.cfm
My generation is all about diminished expectations!
The joyous reaction of the hospital patient in panel 2 made my day. Awesome.
Actually it's kind-of a slightly refreshing change from the days when the stock market used to shoot up like a rocket every time a company announced a layoff of 50k employees, whenever Congress shot down a minimum-wage-hike, privatized the public digital spectrum, etc. etc.
The response to "less" bad news actually makes a lot of sense. Markets are forward-looking.
It's human nature to take what we can get -- and to act as if "less bad" was all we wanted anyway. Kind of like inverse sour grapes.
By the way, beware of diminished expectations for correct spelling. ("Desparate" is the first typo I've ever seen in one of your cartoons!)
I think you mean "desperate," not "desparate."
Ted, normally I like your blockish drawing style and the caricatures are very real but that is the worst looking polar bear I have ever seen capturing the very essence of a fat kangaroo with back problems.
J
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