The first time I went off the high dive at the Martins Ferry public pool, it took a few tries. Got in line. Climbed the ladder. Walked out onto the springboard. Looked down at the water (actually, I think I was looking at the bottom). Got butterflies. Turned around, made everyone get off the ladder, and went back down.

Lifeguard asked me what the problem was. I could swim. I could hold my breath. I had made dives off the low board and the side of the pool many times. So, what was the problem? I was skeert (there doesn't need to be rational support for skeert).

Finally, on about the fourth try, I jumped in, feet first. And that was that.

Well, I think the technical term for the economy right now would be, skeert. Have a client who has been wanting to pull the trigger on an initiative for a couple of weeks now. We've been through the objectives...the strategies...the tactics...the budget...the anticipated return. They know that doing nothing is not an option...that doing nothing would do more harm than the worst case scenario of doing the initiative. But...they're skeert. So, we will wait.

This morning, I notice that the market has been beating its head against Friday's close. It really wants to break through and continue last weeks run. But after a weekend to consider things...an upcoming government bond sale...a couple of corporate earnings...it's just skeert. It's a hard time. But eventually, we will stand up, pull out our wallets, and buy something. And then, something else. And pretty soon, we'll be back in a groove.

Let's just hope we act like we have some sense this time. When it comes to running up debt, buying houses we know we can't pay for, and trillions of dollars in national deficit spending...maybe it ain't so bad to be a little skeert.