Turn Right, Or Left, Or Continue Straight Ahead

I'm continually amused by the pundits constantly arguing about what to call the economic crisis as the world hurtles toward the edge. Is it a downturn? A recession? A bubble? Sports broadcasters are like the political pundits, they fill hours and hours of meanlingless chatter about a game that only takes one hour to play. My favorite sports hedge was when a TV news anchor asked the sportscaster who he predicted would win the annual rivalry between USC and UCLA that year. "UCLA is certainly the stronger team," he blandly intoned, "so I'm going to pick USC to upset." Brilliant move. There was no way he could lose. I once many decades ago asked the writer and publisher of a weekly stock market newsletter how his predictions the previous week had turned out. He answered, "I've been doing this so many years I know how to word things so I'm never wrong."