Finding That the Worst of Times Is Not All Bad

Americans are entitled to feel morose as they digest the events of Sept. 11 and look to the dangers that lie ahead. Instead, they’re curiously upbeat. A late-September poll by the Pew Center for the People & the Press saw a jump in the number of people satisfied with “the way things are going in this country today,” to 57 percent from the mid and low 40s, where it had languished earlier this year. Despite all the reasons for thinking the attacks will worsen the economic slump, Americans’ assessment of the economy has brightened.