During the Great Moderation, right-wingers were generally economic optimists and left-wingers tended to be economic pessimists.
The gap between optimists and pessimists over Russia, always big, is thus widening again.
Optimists and pessimists have been battling it out since the Carter malaise era of the late 1970s.
FORBES: American Decline: More Wishful Thinking from the Naysayers
Trade will continue on Wall Street, as optimists and pessimists place their bets on both sides of the market.
FORBES: Wall Street: How Long Will The Obama Correction Last?
Doves, optimists and champions of peace-through-talk felt vindicated.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The East Bank: Is Israel a Jewish settlement?
As eternal English optimists, and lovers of the world game, we keep our fingers crossed.
We are congenital optimists here and we think we have reason to believe that our optimism is merited.
Progressives were idealists and optimists, seeking an egalitarian Utopia and confident that schools were making good progress towards it.
The world belongs to the bold, to the optimists, and to those who are trying to build things that are bigger than themselves.
The TEDsters (as they also call themselves--while first-timers are called virgins--but please, nobody say "cult, " we're staying positive here) hope to turn into clear-eyed optimists, and possibly even the proprietors of large and profitable businesses.
Despite the challenges, Cairo remains a fascinating, vibrant city, and local optimists argue that dangerous areas are few and far between.
And even the optimists agree US actions in 2003 and 2004 squandered a year after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
In their view, the gains from globalisation are far smaller than the optimists suppose, and the drawbacks much greater.
My own opinions arise from the conservative-libertarian quadrant, and within that quadrant, the corner occupied by entrepreneurs, supply-siders and optimists.
If the optimists are right and peak oil is decades away, we have time to develop new technologies to harness alternative energies.
Before the summit, India had floated the idea of opening extra border crossings between the two countries, and optimists had speculated about an agreement to build an oil pipeline from Iran to India, through Pakistan.
There used to be clearly defined battle lines between pessimists like Mr Ehrlich and optimists like Julian Simon (an economist who bet Mr Ehrlich that the inflation-adjusted price of a basket of commodities would not rise over time because of growing populations).
This may, for instance, explain why optimists work longer hours and tend to earn more.
And so, referendum optimists have been telling me since springtime, the bidding wars for both the oil and the export pathways would provide the new state with all the economic autonomy and prosperity it needed.
But it was nevertheless weaker than forecast and even the economic optimists accept that pace of growth is tailing off in the final three months of the year.
But even if Spain (and later Italy) are forced to enter a rescue plan, there is now a clear sense of what that would imply, and that certainty gives optimists a second reason for confidence.
The optimists argue that they have both history and public opinion on their side.
The optimists point to a buoyant property market and the region's cluster of high-tech investments.
ECONOMIST: Under the shiny surface, a real mess awaits the victor
And, despite what the optimists say, oil is actually running out.
If the war is short and its effects small, optimists hope that buyers will return, encouraged by lack of supply, low interest rates, which make mortgage debts appear relatively cheap to service, and a fairly benign economy.
As entrepreneurs we are optimists, we tend to ignore those odds and think we will be the 1 out of 4 that succeeds.
FORBES: Entrepreneurs: If You Love Your Family, Don't Let Them Invest in Your Startup
But he said David Cameron offered a "miserable" view of what could be achieved and said Labour were the "optimists" who would change Britain.
Optimists point to signs of a backlash in Congress and among some parts of American industry.
On the other hand, optimists argue that Lula's strong mandate, and the trust he enjoys among those from whom he must seek concessions, will give him the force he needs to make progress.
Optimists cling to the hope that a hung parliament and a realignment on the centre-right would bring that leap about, but for the moment the Lib Dems seem unsure whether they are to the left or the right of Labour.
应用推荐