Crainial-rectal inversion

Noted economist Phil Valentine says all this talk about a recession is nonsense. We haven't recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth, so we should spend like drunken sailors lest our pessimism create a recession.

Thank heavens Valentine doesn't have control of anything more dangerous than a cough switch.

What if people took his advice and purchased houses, then when interest rates went up and they had to give up those homes, they could console themselves with the thought that at least they kept the country from going into a recession. Certainly all those new homes on the market and failed mortgages wouldn't be a problem.

And we should buy big, gas-thirsty SUVs. That way when the $3.50 per gallon prices take away our buying power, we'd feel good knowing that the money was going into the hands of a few companies or other countries rather than being spread out among America businesses and workers.

And we should turn corn into fuel to feed those SUVs because the higher cost of food certainly won't do anything to create a recession. By putting the profits from corn into the hands of a few processing companies, we'd actually be boosting the economy.

Americans are acting sensibly. They don't know what economic ills may be coming, but they understand that phony programs like tax cuts and gasoline tax holidays won't solve the economic mess we're in.

When Americans believe the economy is on the right track, they will spend and that's the thing that has always brought us out of recessions. Until then, they have to get past failed economic policies and let the marketplace take its toll.

That's what working families have always done to survive. Those at the top who have money, don't have to worry about such issues.

Phil has a contract and a good salary. If he had to wait at a bus stop to ride an hour to work at a low-paying job, then ride the bus back home to a small apartment at night with no money left over for savings, he might see things differently.

    -- Jim Grinstead