There's a lot of debate over the true state of the economy, but it seems that, one way or another, pessimism abounds.

Consider, the top voted comment on an article about how good the economy is a disagreement.

I wonder how many of the negative effects of an actual bad economy can also be caused by widespread pessimism? Is it better to have a bad economy filled with happy optimists, or a good economy filled with unhappy pessimists?