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Eeyore has a personal connection for me.
Yes, many moons ago...when I was a young man and not too cheery, I was identified by some, well, not admirers exactly, (no, not even fond bystanders) but observers of the other sex who thought I should recognize myself as somewhat un-cheery...as Eeyore.
They did.
And I improved...somewhat.
I will leave it to MG to comment further on this, calmo.
On a more serious note, the general mood in my sphere of exposure has been darkening substantially since 2000, and is rather subdued even if not universally bleak. That is, when you look through whatever fake optimism and pep talk is being displayed, which is not too difficult. At my and others' work the death of a thousand cost cuts is well under way. Everything fits together.
OTOH, the sun still rises every day.
And it is not really a reduced level of cheeriness and friendliness, but more an apparent detachment, disinterest, and withdrawal, by people who used to be engaged and pursued various interests.
On the specific point of Wal-Mart, I don't think it is an accident that poor sales and reduced capital spending plans have gone hand-in-hand. The question is why that might be happening.
Wal-Mart seems to have recognized some time ago that its old model would produce slower growth from now on. More chains have adopted similar models, each with its own twist, so Wal-Mart has more competition. Management has been good about recognizing the problem, but less apt at finding a solution. Germany didn't work out. Upscale seems to be floundering.
The point is, I'm not at all sure that Wal-Mart's trouble is a sign that consumers are pulling back. There is a good chance that Wal-Mart has simply come to the end of its period of rapid growth. We'll see monthly chain store data for October on Thursday, and that may help sort things out. ICSC data suggest Halloween was sort of a bust for retailers.
I am simply fascinated by the infantilism of the "Eeyore" meme. It's not that I miss the pseudo-intellectuals who kept wanting to know "Who Is John Galt?" Frankly, I'm ready to assume that Winnie the Pooh is a better foundation text of econo-twaddle than Atlas Shrugged (take that, Greenspan!). Nonetheless, whilst such endearing insults as "Eeyore" might suggest a welcome retreat from the viciousness of current political discourse, part of me wonders why we're heading down on the literary scale rather than up. Is it that fear of looming recession leads unconsciously to comfort literature? Have the "soft landing" crowd been bucking themselves up by going home at night and reading children's books to themselves? Did we finally conclude that everything we need to know we did, actually, learn in kindergarten?
As someone who was actually thrown out of the trading room once for having tossed a Freddie Mac foam rubber stress toy at the overhead TV during the run-up to the Iraq war, I'm not saying there's no affirmative defense for childishness. I am simply recognizing signs of desperation when I see them.
What's really pathetic is that a governor of the federal reserve has chosen to resort to name-calling.
A handful of reality-based academics challenges his worldview, give plausible arguments, and suggest that the Fed is ignoring several ominous danger signs.
So rather than question his own optimistic position, the man with the best research and information that money can buy resorts to the ad hominium.
Now that Prof. Roubini has been proven correct (if not in fact somewhat optimistic), I'm awaiting the mea culpa from Mr. Fisher.
Now come on, I can sympathize with the fed gov. When you're falling down drunk, and continuing to drink, that party pooping sad sack who asks you for your car keys does look a lot like Eeyore, instead of the one sober guy in the room trying to save your sorry butt, the sorry butts of the passengers who want to ride with you, and the innocent travelers you'd have killed along the way.
Keep on asking for the keys, 'Eeyores.' And if the idiots won't give them up, maybe you should think about electing people who will force them to.
k harris: That may well be so, and is plausible enough. Alas, most everything is a mix of several phenomena, and attributing causes generally only works way after the fact, at least from an observer's position.
Before we get to far down the road of attributing layers of meaning to Fisher's Eeyore comment, take a look at his public statements as a whole. He is, I think, a member of the folksie expensive-suit crowd. He isn't coming down from some previously elevated level of discourse to talk about Eeyore. Eeyore doesn't represent a need for comfort. Eeyore is part of his schtick. Children's book characters, anecdotes about call center workers with a facility for accents, baseball analogies - that's just what this guy does.
By the way, he is a Fed President rather than a Governor.
Yes, k, but if you call others "Eeyore" you do risk having said others riposte with "Piglet." I believe that that's one of the playground rules that even Fed Presidents are subject to.
Well, I like Tanta's almost dispassionate but expeditious
Now if I can only be as expeditious...
And Idaho's
somewhat less, owing no doubt to my distorted view of this not entirely mopey, not absolutely hopeless, somewhat charming character. Fisher, possibly using his Cole Notes again, does not pick piglet here, people.
Kharris's panoramic view (Fisher demands it people, only the widest screen for this personage)
No doubt about it, Fisher is an entertainer (of course he cares that his title is President and not Governor) and knows he can improve upon his schtick rating.
Now I am not a literary critic, (esp not a Childrens Literary Critic) but I do know this Winnie the Pooh from a somewhat different perspective than most.
Yes, I learned it after Zarathrustra, unlike you probably. And unlike Fisher, who may have read it to his children when he wasn't too busy pursuing his career ambitions. I hope he got past the Cole Notes and the mother of his children, I do.
Sorry, fed president. Still, drunk.
Eeyore is a useful descriptor because he represents an archetypal set of character traits simplified for a young audience - he is the distilled essence of pessimism.
Fisher could have used "Cassandra"...but mythological references are nearly as funny as Pooh.
(and Cassandra was, of course, right).
thrown out of the trading room for throwing a stress toy at the TV -- who else besides me has a crush on tanta?
and I suppose we know where Idaho_Spud's "hominium" lives -- in a condominium.
I'd say something scholarly but I'm a note-taker here.
I could just leave this alone, I could.
...but Eeyore guides me.
In LIFO order, Jim, its absolutely critical that the scholar be parked in the closet when it comes to Eeyore distillations (of which this is not one). Needless to say, we are all crushing on Tanta (and I'm taking notes now for sure) who needs some redirections about what is infantile and what is not (and I shall get to exhibit more of my crush in a moment).
InquiringMind (not like me), writes
and I'm sure Eeyore would not be happy (This is the key, people, that Fisher, maybe like Eeyore, stumbles upon, but does so much less with than our hero.) with this revelation that he is the distilled essence of pessimism. He is not Hardy's Henchard. He is much more. He knows it...look: his tail is still on.
Idaho, being called an 'Eeyore' is a mixed blessing...not an un-mixed curse. The reference by Fisher may not be the usual derogatory 'name-calling' (ad homonimium ad condominium mud-slinging) as far as I can tell from the tracks in the snow. How well does Fisher know Eeyore? How well does Fisher think the rest of us know him? (Such delicate matters people, that I am delicately addressing, I must.)
Tanta (crushable numero uno this B crusher numero innumerato) pens
If there is one children's book in your library, make this, Winnie the Pooh, be it. Suffer no Coles Notes digests. Suffer no scholarly distillations.
It is so literary upscale. Make room for it and park your War and Peace under the phone book. Read it and know we did not learn everything in kindergarten. Not well enough apparently.