• NewsHour with Jim Lehrer , Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11 AM

NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solmon did an interesting piece on the cascading effect that consumer pessimism has on our willingness to spend. It's a nearly 10-minute segment that delves into the psychology of bad news perpetuating itself, and is worth a listen.

We are in a state of "learned helplessness," one economist posits. When we don't understand the relationship between cause and effect, a famous experiment on dogs discovered, we develop a feeling of helplessness -- even depression - and tend to lie down in our cages even if we know that it will have adverse effects.

The final guest says that most news reports add to the general feeling of malaise consumers have about the economy because they only report the bad news without delving into the whys and wherefores. Solmon points out that the length of time this guest personally had to plead his case was longer than an entire economic report usually airs on commercial television. So does that mean we can look forward to a recovery soon?

Read the whole story at NewsHour with Jim Lehrer »