Yeah....and if the river floods, there'll be trouble; and if the house burns, there'll be trouble; and if the car crashes, there'll be trouble.
Methinks this is an effort to dwell on the negative which DECREASES confidence rather than dwell on the positive which INCREASES confidence.
You may be right on this but to be honest it is not wrong to always look at the positive and the negative if one wishes to understand what actions should be taken. I cheer every bit of good news and I would dearly love for George W. Bush to be running with a booming economy and full employment. We are not there yet and as such articles like this will come out and come out repeatedly.
Now as an Historical aside wityhout any implication we are in a Depression or one is coming. During the Hoover administration the administration was convinced that tehonly problem was confidence in teh economy. It did not do them good in the elections of 1932.
I don't think so, 2004 may well turn out to be a transition year, moderate GDP and earnings growth. Thats only a negative if expectations are too high.