WSJ Competes With NY Times for Pessimist Bona Fides

I've noted previously the big shift in the pessimists' line of attack on the economy. It used to be we were headed for doom because the consumer was tapped out. The consumer, however, didn't get the memo so the recession argument was modified to "the banks are tapped out." They won't lend and so we're back on the road to certain economic perdition. The New York Times has led the charge but today the Wall Street Journal does its part (proving yet again, against common perceptions, that the news sections of the WSJ are only slightly differentiable from those of the NY Times) with a front page distress signal that our hard-working, job-creating small business community will be starved of credit. Trouble is, the evidence is thin on the ground. You get through the whole of the front page text without seeing any examples of actual businesses getting turned away at the loan officer's desk. The reader only gets quotes from college professors that it could get bad or seems likely to get bad. As we read on, somewhere within the bowels of section A, we find that lending is up and we see a few examples of businesses that have ample access to credit. Finally, in the last few paragraphs, we get one example of a business that has been denied credit, but only to go out shopping for deals, or "speculating" as it is also known. Small, incremental growth investments might be another story. So, what is this business that is going to send us all to hell in a handbasket if it can't expand? An orchid farm. The bread and butter of the economy this is not.

The WSJ has really stretched on this one. Fine by me though. Scare the townsfolk all you want. This Old Man Potter has cash and is buying.