It always has been. To expect people to be "objective" and "confident" when they know they're having trouble paying their bills is what's unrealistic.

What creates market bubbles? Belief (an intellectual expression of hopefulness, an emotion) in the (over?)value of a commodity, or belief in a line of bull being pedalled by the era's version of investment brokers. What gives gold its value? It's rare and pretty, a stretch back to our mammalian love of shiny things, an emotional appeal if ever there was one. Economic life has the closest ties to people's emotions, their perceptions, their needs, desires and lusts, of any part of public life, and maybe of private life as well. Of the basic needs, food, clothing and shelter, economics governs, well, all of them.

What I find most interesting is the approach defined by the expression "nation of whiners". To what do emotionally churned up people respond? Where do they turn? To dynamic leadership. Phil Gramm, who is supposed to be a competent politician, who is supposed to know a little something about leadership, has mistaken scolding for leadership. He also drew a line between himself (and those who share his views) and all those other people, those whiners who might be losing their homes or their jobs or their hopes for their futures.

Mr. Gramm, the psychologist in the article (who, one presumes, has no trouble paying her bills and so lacks that particular perspective), and anyone who shares their approach, might take a look at the famous painting of "Washington Crossing the Delaware" as a parable for effective leadership that can inspire confidence. The great man was not standing on the shore exhorting his soldiers not to be a bunch of whiners. He was in the same boat with them, demonstrating that he valued them, that he shared their risk, that he knew they were all in this together, and that he had confidence in them.

Economic downturns become disasters when people believe they all have to fend for themselves. When their leaders demonstrate they understand people's fears but have confidence in the people anyway, this belief is set aside after a period of hand-wringing while people adjust to the new normal, even if times are hard. When their leaders demonstrate contempt for the people, or worse, obliviousness to their realities, this belief is reinforced.

"A nation of whiners" was not a helpful remark. It wasn't truthful, either. "A nation of leaderless people" is closer to the mark.