Trying Times

THAT LIGHT AT the end of the tunnel: a glimmer of hope or, as President Bush’s former chief economist, Larry Lindsey, sees it, an onrushing train? That jump in share prices: start of a recovery from a market bottom, or a “dead cat bounce” typical of bear markets?

It is trying to answer questions such as these that put me in mind of Tom Paine’s characterization of the dark days of the American Revolution. “These are the times that try men’s souls . ‘Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country.”