In the grand scheme of things we all benfit from good economic times and are hurt by bad economic times but we can all lessen our hurt and increase our benefit by understanding the cycles. If you install an air conditioner in the dead of winter do you pray for a heat wave, no, but you do pat yourself on the back for correctly guessing the cycle. Nobody wants a big earthquake or fire but if you make the preparations of insurance, water, food and develop a disaster plan you feel good if it doesn’t happen but validated if it does. If you saw a storm or hurricane brewing and heeded the warnings by evacuating early you wouldn’t be happy if others became victims, just better because you made the preparations and heeded the signs. In fact you feel pity and anger at the same time toward those who ignored the warnings. The point is that there will always be ups and downs in stocks, R/E, employment, etc. Listen and learn, pay attention to people who are older and wiser (and don’t stand to profit from you following their advice) and you too will survive anything that happens.
That’s all many of these people are doing, they see the warning signs, this has happened before and will happen again, they even go out of their way to warn others to prepare and tell them how. Their frustration with those who ignore the signs of a recession or a R/E downturn aren’t wishful thinking they are warnings based on wisdom and frustration when others ignore the signs.