"Just what we need, a teacher who is negative and predicts Doomsday. Go read your books and stay the heck out of the real world which you don't understand ... we don't need negative press and doomsday predictions. People believe what they read and it scares them and makes things worse."

That's the considered and thoughtful reaction of Dogpatch Daily reader Cindy Gibb, taking umbrage at sobering economic statistics presented by UNLV's Keith Schwer. That'll fix those book-larnin' types, fer sure! Edjucashun? Who needs it!

Jibes aside, I've had the honor of knowing Dr. Schwer for several years and he's fairly circumspect in his economic forecasts. So if Schwer says we're in a recession, you can take it to the bank (so to speak).

Heck, seven years ago, Schwer was noting that quality of life issues such as the dim perception of our school system, our dearth of public parks, etc., were keeping high-tech employers out of Nevada, heeding the siren song of places like Colorado instead.

But hey, he's an academic, an egghead! What does he know? So the Silver State's Powers That Be kept pursuing their race to the bottom, foolishly putting all their eggs in the casino industry's basket, and look where it's got us.

Then again, maybe we could all take a extra-big dosage of Ms. Gibb's Happy Pills, think lots and lots of sunny, positive thoughts -- as she'd have us do -- and when we wake up tomorrow everything will super-duper hunky-dory, rainwater will be beer (preferably Kronenberg) and, in the immortal words of Clark Griswold, we'll all be singing "Zip-a-dee Doo-Dah" out of our butts.

Or not.

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