I think a real recession might be the only thing the untrained eye of the blogosphere has to look upon. Plenty of disasters, politics and a major war have fed the great smug borg but never a real spine-slackening pit of despair like a loss of faith, which is what a recession really is. So it is cheery to read this bit in The New York Times this morning as a catalyst to do what new media does so well - errr, largely offer the wrong observations:

Until a few months ago, it was accepted wisdom that the American economy functioned far more smoothly than in the past. Economic expansions lasted longer, and recessions were both shorter and milder. Inflation had been tamed. The spreading of financial risk, across institutions and around the world, had reduced the odds of a crisis. Back in 2004, Ben Bernanke, then a Federal Reserve governor, borrowed a phrase from an academic research paper to give these happy developments a name: "the great moderation."

These days, though, the great moderation isn’t looking quite so great — or so moderate. The recent financial turmoil has many causes, but they are tied to a basic fear that some of the economic successes of the last generation may yet turn out to be a mirage...

Everyone knows the best way to have a recession is to talk it up and will people into the dumps. Sure the west has invested heavily in toys with flashing lights, outsourced jobs and became a massively indebted to what used to be called dictators - but it was all about the long run of the good times.

So what now? How to turn the frowns into smiles quickly? Drop interest rates to ensure borrowing continues. Public stimulus through, what, spending lots and lots. Maybe just end that writers strike and give us all something to watch on TV to get the ad revenues flowing again.

Or stock up on oatmeal, plant potatoes where the flowers were and pay off the bill from the hungover party. And, as David says, panic.