Roosevelt

I would like to declare a moratorium on quoting Roosevelt when he said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." People treat that like it is some Eastern-style aphorism, like "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Like you can apply it on any occasion when people are talking about fear, and they will think you are a real smart guy.

Roosevelt was saying something very particular. He was saying that the only problem with the American economy was a lack of consumer confidence. And that if we all believed in the markets, really hard, that the banks would become solvent again. Something like that, certainly. From now on, thank you for not using the fear quote unless you are talking about the stock market.