Fear Is Contagious
I am reminded of what Michel Eyquem De Montaigne said with tongue in cheek during the French Renaissance 450 years ago, “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.”
As expected, we received a firestorm of email 2 weeks ago as a result of the Monday Morning Memo of March 2 in which I said I had chosen not to be fearful about the future. It seems that a lot of people take pleasure in fretting and they want me to get on board.
But a frightened person frightens other people. And these newly frightened people will frighten still more people until finally no one is spending any money. Fear is the fuel of recession. I understand perfectly what’s happening in the world. I simply choose not to be afraid.
You can choose, too. We are worth more than many sparrows.
Warren Buffett agrees with this outlook.
“Fear is very contagious. You can get fearful in 5 minutes, but you don’t get confident in 5 minutes.” - Warren Buffett on CNBC, Monday, March 9, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment