Chill Out: It's a Recession, Not the Apocalypse

If you’re fretting, panicking, or just plain moping about the economy, Boris Johnson has some advice: Wake up and go shopping. “This isn’t some disaster movie about a virus from Mars. It’s a recession,” the mayor of London writes in the Daily Telegraph. “It doesn’t mean we have to line our rooms with newspaper, get in the fetal position, and live on tins.”

Boris isn’t saying people with maxed out credit cards should take out a second mortgage. But recently Queen Elizabeth, “who has a bob or two,” said she wasn’t buying any new dresses, out of sensitivity. Bollocks! The boom-bust cycle may be miserable, but “not so miserable that we have to cease all economic activity in deference to our misery.” Capitalism isn't dying, and there's nothing wrong with spending, Johnson opines. It might actually help. (More Boris Johnson stories.)