Rose-colored glasses?

The day after a cataract operation on my right eye, I woke to find that I have been missing a more color-intensive world. As I removed the protective patch, placed after the operation, I immediately noted that my new eye lens was causing me to see brighter colors. Opening and closing my left eye revealed that, even with my corrective glass lens, I am now seeing colors that before were slightly muted; a good term for the change is brilliant. As my eyes adapted, the changed eye began to modify the unchanged eye and as the old advertisement for color TV broadcasting said, I was seeing the world with new color.

With just the wave of a scalpel, my view of the world changed. Wouldn’t it be great if a giant scalpel could change the mess in the Gulf, strife in the Mid-East, the situation in Afghanistan and employment problems here at home? My world is definitely brighter today, and I wish others' were, too.

Actually, it needs brightening today as the G-20 Summit produced dire warnings that the dreaded double-dip recession was more of a reality, and the infamous W-shaped recession and recovery was more likely. What’s worse, the Summit observers were now talking about a lengthy recovery of 2 to 3 years. Thanks a lot guys; didn’t you have any positive discussions in Toronto?

The stock market seemed to ho-hum the whole thing, with little movement on the Monday after the G-20 ministers had their fill of Canadian bon hommie and went home before they could cause any more anguish. I don’t know about you, but I am getting a little tired of that roly-poly woman in the yellow blazer, Merkel, who seems to get her way by threatening to upset the European economy by doing just about what she pleases.

Too bad security didn’t let some of the protesters slip through into the yellow zone so that the isolated ministers could hear what the “people” were protesting. I am all for civil protest, if "civil" and opposed to the idiots who seem to think that breaking store windows and burning police cars is going the attract change. In Toronto, all it caused was a $1 billion security outlay; oh well, some of it went for police overtime, so it did help the Ottawa economy a bit.

So now the talk is about another recession, or a continuance of the one we thought was over. It’s what we hear on the talk shows and from the commentators of both sides. The term double-dip gets your attention, better than a W-shaped recession and recovery.

Back before the recession, I cautioned about talking ourselves into one as the Web and papers were full of projections on the severity of the “next big one” and sure enough it happened. Now rationally it wasn’t just random talk; it was the greedy bankers, insurance companies and investment houses that did us in, but talk helped.

So let’s not let the current round of negative talk start the ball rolling, even if some of it emanates from that woman in Berlin. Things are moving up for us here in the U.S., thanks in part to a hot market in Asia--read that as China so let’s not upset the cart with talk of a double-dip. And let’s hope the doomsayers find something else to jaw about, maybe the lousy refereeing in South Africa. I’m doing my part, going back to have my left eye done in a couple of weeks. That should make the world even brighter.