Remember the question about a tree falling in the forest? Now the question is whether there would be so much economic turmoil and anguish if no one was around to talk about it.

For a week or more now, news writers and the talking heads on TV have been going on about the "worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."

One gets the feeling they have no idea about the extent or nature of the troubles that launched the Depression but use the phrase because it sounds dramatic. And it does.

Talking that way, however, is not all that helpful or informative. What drives the economy is people making economic decisions, not just in Washington and New York, but in every town in America.

Every time you make a decision like that, you take a chance. You take a chance, for example, that you'll be able to keep your job so you can pay off the car or sofa you want to buy. And the more talk there is of a crisis that swallows up everyone, the less likely you are to take a chance on anything, or at least on anything big.

So the best thing for the economy would be that the heads quit talking. Or at least quit talking in apocalyptic terms. The talk does not help, and it certainly can make things worse.

Advice to all those flapping gums on the cable shows: Find something else to talk about. (hh)