The Business Press

For various reasons, I’ve been reviewing the business press this morning. I have found frequent claims that investors are selling at “near-panic levels.” It leads me to ask: what would an actual panic look like compared to this? (One is reminded of the frequent description of Bush administration-ordered torture as “interrogation methods tantamount to torture.” Again: what would real torture look like?)

At least for the time being we’re seeing fewer subordinate clauses along the lines of “stoking fears that the US may be headed toward a recession.” The replacement, of course, is not directly asserting that we’re in recession, but a resounding silence. As the man says: “Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen.”