Nation of neurotics

I noticed recently that former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican and an economic adviser to the McCain campaign, got in hot water for saying Americans are experiencing a "mental recession" and that the nation is a bunch of whiners. And ... ? OK, so I get it. You're not supposed to insult the voters in a middle of a campaign for the presidency. But, come on. Americans have got to be some of the biggest weepers and moaners on the planet. They expect to have everything at a price THEY want to pay. Like gasoline. And they expect the nation's economy to just keep rolling along like it has for the past 25 years or so. Eventually, there's going to be a downturn, especially when there was such rampant overspeculation in homes. Frankly, Americans are spoiled. Our grandparents lived through a Depression and a world war. Our parents suffered through the 1970s, with high oil prices and the stagflation of the Ford and Carter era. This generation of working adults has been through two mild recessions — 1991 and 2001. And now we face a bump in the road, economically speaking. Look, things will get better. They must. The alternative is a complete breakdown of our society. That's just not going to happen. Nervous whining won't help either way.