Doom and gloom on a Sunday afternoon

Usually on Sundays, I love sleeping in and then making my way to the local Starbucks where I slowly flip through the newspaper and clip coupons. Today, though, I couldn’t help but notice the gloom and doom attitude that permeated the paper:  

Exhibit A, from the lead paragraph in a Business section story:

“No, 2008 wasn’t just a bad year. It was an awful year. A Johnstown Flood kind of year. The kind that wipes out proud century-old institutions, decimates entire industries, and leaves everyone decidedly poorer and the world profoundly shaken.”

Jeez, now I’m shaken. Next I turned to a finance column where I found the cheerful lead below:

“By now, having watched your house fall in value, your 401(k) plan slide toward nothingness, your job security disappear, your benefits fade, the complete failure of business management, the disastrous failure of regulatory control, the finger-pointing of the political parties, the shameful desire of a state governor to sell a U.S. Senate seat and the revelation of an epic $50 billion fraud, none of us could be blamed if we wanted to move to Montana and shun the company of human beings.”

Excuse me while I go slit my wrists. Seriously, as if we aren’t beseiged enough already with negative messages about the failing economy, now we have to read all about it in the Sunday edition of the paper – usually an escape from reality with its lifestyle stories and colorful circulars touting the latest sales.

Luckily I didn’t stop reading there because my mood  improved considerably after turning to the Travel section where another expert confirmed 2009 might be the best opportunity for inexpensive travel in years.

Five different coupon inserts (with stuff I actually use) also helped brighten my mood, along with a story in Parade about the men and women of the U.S. Secret Service who are willing to sacrific their lives for the President. Okay, maybe not exactly the most upbeat story but it was interesting all the same.

Anyway, note to the media: you’re not helping the situation any with all this doom and gloom. I’m not one to bury my head in the sand but if I wanted to be depressed I’d simply open up my latest 401(k) statement.

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