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As Economic Crisis Continues, Many People Change the Subject
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Tinsley's research shows that surviving flirtations with disaster, as in past Wall Street nose dives, doesn't make people more timid. Instead, it emboldens them to take on more risk. And it makes them less fearful when the next "market correction" occurs.
What's more, public conversation about a generally private matter -- they are called "personal" finances, after all -- can stray onto delicate ground. Wall Street woes aren't meaningful to some people unless their jobs are threatened, so fresh reports of looming layoffs might sour people who had remained upbeat.
The "ride-it-out" message plays better with younger people than with baby boomers nearing retirement.
For example, Becky Shatzoff, 33, describes herself as a "poor person" and says she doesn't own stock. She and her friends in Prince William County don't expect to be burned by a failing economy.
"Mostly it's talked about on the news," Shatzoff said. "I don't hear other people talking about it, other than NBC."
Thomas Walsh, a Fairfax County security consultant, said that at age 40, he's "not ready to jump out the window." A "news junkie," he has followed the crisis closely and remains optimistic. "The economy has its upturns and downturns," he said. "My 401(k)'s not looking good right now, but whose is?"
The economy does come up when his neighbors gather, Walsh said, but "it's kind of like you talk about the weather or the Redskins. It's a topic of conversation."
"I think everybody around me is oblivious," said Meg Maier, a Severna Park real estate agent who is following the crisis closely. "I don't hear anybody talking about it or sense that they've been thinking about it."
Penny Banello, 61, confesses to having been one of those oblivious people.
"I learned that I have been oblivious, much to my peril," said Banello, who lives in Cape St. John. "I didn't know what the ramifications of deregulation were 10 years ago."
She has talked with her brother and sister, who live in Upstate New York and Montana, about the possibility of living under a single roof again.
"Since I live off my [investment] portfolio, it's going to affect me terribly," she said.
Why, she was asked, aren't more people talking about the economic crisis?
"Maybe they are thinking, 'If I just don't pay attention, maybe it will go away.' "
