I just finished Daniel Gross’ article in Newsweek on why we should be spending and not investing. In it, he said that we, as a country, were hypomanic in the late 90’s and 2000s. He’s right, but I don’t think it’s an argument to make that acting that way is a good thing. Hypomania is a strong feeling of euphoria, or mania, that lasts for short periods of time. When someone is hypomanic he or she feels intensely focused on doing something, giddy and full of uncontrollable energy. Usually, mania strikes without rational thought behind it and it can push or promote bad behavior or bad choices. Haven’t we had enough of that financially? Getting on the hot stock because it’s hot and everyone else is buying it? The tech boom proved more often than not that buying without due diligence, rational thought, or self-control could lead to thousands in lost money, simply because an overwhelmingly attractive concept went bust. The same holds true for the housing bubble as people who couldn’t afford large payment balloons believed themselves to be invinicible and overlooked consequences. Also, hypomanic personalities are also prone to paralyzing anxiety. Which, in my view, is what a lot of people who make decisions without thought or backup plans are experiencing right now. I’m all for America to take reasonable risks again to goose the economy, productivity and the American dream. I just think that advocating poor decision making is irresponsible. I’d also ask Mr. Gross to lay off the armchair psychology. I didn’t happen to notice an M.D., D.O., or PhD near his name in psychiatry or psychology. Just saying.