I suppose a few people are chearing a recession, why not? We lived through the last one in 2001 without too much real pain right? Experience teaches them not to worry, to accelerate when everyone else is slowing down and BAM you are a lap ahead when things speed back up again. ( BTW I hate NASCAR, but it works) The problem is that unless you lost your options or something in the tech bubble, the pain wasnt really felt by alot of people. This isnt to discount it, just to say some people were hurt alot more than most people. This time around everyone is gonna get hurt, and in my opinion hurt more. So please forgive those that have discounted their exposure to pain, they know not what they do.

I guess what I really want to say is that economics 101 taught me that recessions are a natural part of the economic cycle. It clears out old inventory, decaying buisnesses, and punishes excessive risk. It is the punishing rainstorm that brings floods, wind, and lightning, but when it passes those that survived are better off for the water and felled dead trees. I dont want a recession, I dont want to see people hurt, I really dont want to see my stocks take a huge haircut. But I also dont want 400Billion dollar deficits and housing that no one can afford. Looking at it that way, ill take the short term pain of a recession and reset everytime over 15 years of stagflation/ Japanese style lack of growth. To me this is a lesser of two evils kinda question, not a “do you want…” kinda question.

PS, SD R. Those are the same kinda questions that get our Government into budget trouble all the time. Do you want to see drug addicts and teenage prostitutes? There will never be enough resources to take care of every need, even in the good times. So questions like that seem more like brow beating and fear mongering. No body ever wants those things. It doesnt mean that the pain isnt necessary.

BTW, I am scared of the next year or two. I am hopefull for the next twenty. If we were not correcting, that would be the other way around.