Fear: Last Seen Migrating to the High Street

Ian Jack went “looking for signs of fear” on the high street last week, interrogating wine merchants and green grocers with the zeal of a Sam Spade, but couldn’t manage to track it down.

Will Hutton in the Guardian today thinks he’s seen it in transit:

“Fear is migrating from prospects of financial meltdown to more general economic concerns about production and employment…the government, and the rest of G7, will have to show much more imagination if we are to limit this contagion.”

Floyd Norris at the NY Times hasn’t seen fear, but he knows what it’s up to: out terrorising poor old bankers:

“Fear is rampant, and the banks seem to be among the most afraid.”

Norris thinks the US government should be calling bankers in, and giving them a little counseling and support to help ease all the suffering fear has inflicted:

“Call in the top bankers, as well as a group of leaders of smaller banks and bank trade associations. Tell them that you expect them to lend to each other willingly at low rates, and that if rates stay much higher you will have something to say about that. If the banks do not trust each other, why should anyone else trust them?”

Matthew Parris though, has come out in defence of fear, which he says, writing in the Times, is being victimised:

“Could we have an end to financial-crash commentary that solemnly opines that “fear breeds fear”, “fear is irrational” and that we should all take a cold shower and calm down? Of course fear breeds fear. But hope breeds hope, and hope is irrational, and when rising hopes fuelled rising markets, which, in turn, fuelled further rises in hope, was anyone suggesting that we take cold showers and calm down? It strikes at least this economic ignoramus that there may be natural underlying cycles in human sentiment that find their own peaks and troughs – and we should not spend too much money trying to buck them.”

Fear, if you’re out there, we just want to talk to you. There’s nothing to be afraid of, really. We don’t want to kill you, or lock you up. We just want a sit down chat…

Posted by Jonty Rhodes in Hot Money | October 16, 2008 10:25AM |