Ten Reasons You May Need to “Cheer Up”

10.

Negative real, after-tax yields on Treasury bills and notes. Investors must pay the government to hold their money.

9. 

Stock market full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

8. 

Likelihood of double-dip recession said to grow.

7.

Congress plans return to work. Prospect causes citizenry to cringe in fear and loathing.

6

Republican refusal to raise income tax rates triggers renewed interest  in consumption tax.

5. 

Gap between very rich and the rest of us expands, making future of estate tax hard to predict.

4. 

Unemployment remains stuck around 9 percent.

3 

Banks foreign and domestic waver. Even Warren Buffett cannot save them all.

2. 

Seemingly endless supply of foreclosed homes kills demand for new ones.

1. 

Steve Jobs, the man who changed the world, resigns as Apple CEO.

A tip of the freshly-brushed fedora to Rob Bamberger, who played this recording on Hot Jazz Saturday Night.