The confident, quiet majority

An Observer colleague suggested recently that The Squeeze try reporting economic statistics with a twist. Reverse the numbers, he said. Tell what's going right.

If 12 percent of us are at least one month late on our mortgage, that means 88 percent are paying on time each month. If 9 percent of us are unemployed, then more than nine out of every 10 have a job.

What do you think?

Certainly, the danger in the approach is that it doesn't acknowledge deviation from normal - there are more people now who have lost their incomes, more people who fear they won't make their next mortgage payments. But the point of reversing the numbers is valid: It's important to note that a vast majority of us are not going to lose our jobs and homes.

Last Friday, in our very unscientific Squeeze poll, we asked how long you thought you'd have to work before retiring. The winning answer, by far, was "Before age 67" (the year of full Social Security benefits.) We were, admittedly, surprised at the optimism. Should we be?

News is often, by its nature, an exercise of reporting what's going wrong with our lives. It's an old journalism adage that you'd be uninterested in the thousands of successful takeoffs and landings that go on each day at our airports. We tell you about the unusual - the flights that have a hitch.

The danger with recession journalism is that in telling you stories about very real lost jobs and thinning retirement accounts, we contribute to consumer fear, which leads to spending paralysis, which heightens economic misery. It's the biggest complaint that comes into The Squeeze: You're making things worse.

The flip side is that when good news becomes unusual, we leap to report that as well.

By recession standards, last week was one of those weeks. Retail reports were surprisingly encouraging. Same with earnings reports. Stocks rallied.

Last Friday, a Consumer Index survey by respected pollster Rasmussen showed Americans are more confident today than at any point since the economy became starkly worse last November.

Optimism, experts say, is half the battle in beating the economic downturn. (Stabilizing the banks is the other chore). When consumers feel comfortable enough to spend, they'll start spending, which will stir housing and manufacturing, which will create jobs. Believing things are better is the best way for things to get better.

Sunday's Washington Post asked three "wise men" their thoughts on the economy and market. The most optimistic financial expert noted that we've had 11 recessions since World War II - and 11 recoveries. The least optimistic said that we would not be making the profits on our investments that we are accustomed to. He did not, however, say that we would not be making profits on our investments.

The message: We will be fine, eventually.

We want to hear from those of you who feel the same. Are you optimistic for the short or long term? Tell us why.