Mr. Harry Browne:

It is a good question. It is almost a question about human psychology as much as it is about journalism, because at some level it seems to me that particular politician in question went too far. There was a gut reaction among a lot of people who said: "We are not going to let him say something like that. We are going to say the things." In other words, instead of the effect being that those people should all commit suicide if they are so negative about the economy and making people shut up, the effect was to make people think it was important to say something.

It is, perhaps, important to say something now, to be in solidarity with the people who are being accused of being depressing about the economy. There is not a simple answer in that regard. At the point of the unravelling of the crisis it probably had the effect of sparking more critical journalism rather than suppressing it.