Power of Thought and Belief

"Self-fulfilling prophecy" -- you've likely read and heard this term before. What it means:

As it is known and taught today in management and education circles, the notion of the self-fulfilling prophecy was conceptualized by Robert Merton a professor of sociology at Columbia University. In a 1957 work called "Social Theory and Social Structure," Merton said the phenomenon occurs when "a false definition of the situation evokes a new behavior which makes the original false conception come true."

A little like The Pygmalion Effect which, as applied to students, means that those who are expected to fail will likely fail, and those expected to succeed will succeed.

Applied in a more "global" or, at least, a national fashion could fall our economy.

Samuel Zell, billionaire chairman of Equity Investments Group and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other companies, says:

Obviously what we have going on is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. We have two Democratic candidates who are vying with each other to describe the economic situation worse."

Zell believes that the U.S. economy will avoid recession, as the housing market actually begins to recover this spring.

I've been around this planet for a few years, shall we say, and have noted that much of what occurs in terms of the U.S. economy has a great deal to do with The Pygmalion Effect.

In an even more global scale, on virtually every level and issue: we pretty much get what we want. So. What do we want?

BZ