>I am fully with you on the predictive aspect of the crisis talk, but you
>seem to forget your own advice to look into what makes people "tick." Doom
>saying is a bunch of hogwash if you take it as an advice to build your
>future on it, but it tells you something about the state of mind of the doom
>sayers. Like their idealism or religious mind-frame that is eager to
>substitute wishful thinking for a rational analysis of material reality. Or
>willingness to obtain instant gratification or relief from their
>frustrations by saying magic words.
Yup, this is true, but neurotics love their symptoms, but they nonetheless make their lives worse. What you describe is a kind of collective pathology, and, fundamentally optimistic fool that I am, I persist in hoping that at least a significant minority of the population could be persuaded to work through their collective delusions. I realize that that's a seriously uphill struggle, and I don't know how to go about that, but I haven't given up yet.
Doug