Courtesy U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve

While many other economists are saying that the chances of a recession are 50/50, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and me know that that kind of economic self-hatred thinking can only lead to a recession. Before we testified to Congress, Hank told me Citibank was known for negative thinking, while Goldman Sachs (his alma mater) always focused on the upside and “kicked ass”. We watched The Secret together, and decided that positive thinking and self-love was the way to revive the economy, along with deficit-creating tax rebates and inflation-causing interest rates cuts.

So we told the unenlightened Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd (who compared this economy to 9/11) to lighten up since there is no recession.

What’s the reason for Dodd’s anger? Just visit his Dodd for President website:

Just like irresponsible home owners and private equity funds, Chris Dodd financed his campaign with subprime debt. He first asked Hank and I if we could bail him out, but we explained there would likely be no trickle down effects from that. Plus it could create a moral hazard for other highly-leveraged presidential campaigns. We should have expected his negativity outbreak at the Senate Banking Committee.

However, Dodd did have a good idea in setting up a donation form for personal debt relief. We encourage every subprime debt holder to do the same.