The wonderful benefits of depression

Both personally and in economics, depression is a useful period that should be embraced and used, not avoided.

You probably haven't heard this one, but there's some scientific evidence that depression is, in the end, good for you.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/29/the-benefits-of-depressio_n_89192.html

The problem is, some people try to avoid it. Either by drinking, violence, entertainment, or other distractions. Depression is a slap in the face that say's "Time to re-think your life, idiot". It only slaps harder the more you avoid it.

Our economy is the same way: recession is a useful period that allows people and businesses to adjust to changes that have happened elsewhere in the economy. However, it becomes useful only if weak businesses, no matter how big, are allowed to die or reorganize. In that light, bailouts of failed businesses are only a way of preserving dead weight, and "stimulus" plans are only an attempt to delay the pain.