Can the media scare us into a recession and make it a self fulfilling prophecy? (debt, investments)

[questioner2]

Even though our economy continues to grow, the media keeps telling us that America is going to be in a RECESSION in 2008. I know a number of people who are scared and feel like their investments will crash and they will lose their jobs. As a result they are cutting way back and going into a bunker mentality. They are staying home and watching Fox News instead of eating out and shopping at the Mall on Saturday evening.

I suspect the constant talk about a recession by the main stream media will make a recession a self fulfilling prophecy.

[sheri257]

I wouldn't dismiss the psychological impact but ... I think the recession is real.

There's no question that a lot of the recent consumer spending was financed by debt based on phantom home equity ...

Which was a house of cards that inevitably would crash down. I always expected a recession to come out of this ... it was just a question of when.

Naturally, doom and gloom always follows but ... we almost always have a recession every seven years or so anyway.

In 2001 the economy was tanking AND we had 9-11 ... can't get anymore doom and gloom than that and we still survived.