Dec 24th, 2008 · With the financial crisis, the steep decline in the stock market and the Madoff scandal, investor angst has given rise to short-term pessimism. But investors also feel optimistic about their financial future, according to recent surveys by Gallup and the Pew Research Center.
Sep 23rd, 2008 · Brooklyn's TV on the Radio has always been a forward-thinking rock band. Its new album, Dear Science, is its funkiest, but in a typically complicated way. Sick of living with pessimism, the band has brightened its tunes and beats.
Aug 22nd, 2008 · The NewYork-based Conference Board says its monthly measurement of future economic activity showed its largest decline in a year. The private organization pointed to lower building permits, a faltering stock market, high unemployment claims, a tight money supply, and falling orders for consumer goods. Mark Vitner of Wachovia Corporation called the situation "economic purgatory" ... "stuck somewhere between sluggish growth and recession."
Apr 14th, 2008 · Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, is living in Shanghai this year. She finds the contrast between Asian optimism and American pessimism palpable and says that embracing American values once again is the key for national confidence to come surging back.
Mar 25th, 2008 · Data released Tuesday shows that consumers are becoming more pessimistic. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index has fallen to a five-year low. The survey also found that consumers expect conditions to get worse, not better. Another index that looks to the future, the Expectations Index, was down at a level not seen since 1973. Chris Arnold
Nov 30th, 2007 · World AIDS Day will celebrate the millions of people living with the disease, rather than the pessimism of years gone by. The United Nations reports the number of those infected with HIV worldwide is 33 million, not the 39 million previously reported.
Oct 9th, 2006 · President Bush's policy on Iraq remains, "Stay the course." But behind that maxim, one can see signs of the ground being cleared for a change in that policy. Recent comments from James A. Baker III and Sen. John Warner (R-VA), two administration stalwarts, indicate pessimism for the current U.S. approach to Iraq.
Sep 14th, 2005 · Since Hurricane Katrina, there have been promises that New Orleans will be rebuilt. But those plans will also likely include a redesigned New Orleans. Reed Kroloff, dean of Tulane's architecture program, says the city's "fine grain" must be preserved. Sociologist George Wooddell shares his pessimism that the population will return. Landscape architect Walter Hood, a University of California-Berkeley professor, says New Orleans must become a denser, more integrated city, both in race and class.