The Power Of Words To Scare

It is amazing how frightened we can get by some words. During the 1950’s the word Communist was terrifying. To many people the words Homosexuality and Transvestite draw the same sort of horror, especially if the word is being used to describe your child. In America the word Fuck has much the same power.

The word Nationalization falls into the same category for many Americans. Especially when the word is being used in conjunction with banks and bank failures.

The American banks Citigroup and Bank of America are clearly under capitalized. Lots of others are also. Many reputable economists would like to use the word Insolvent, but that is another one of those words that strike terror into people.

After the U.S. Government (the American people) already having poured many billions of dollars into these banks to prop them up, it is increasingly looking like the “least worst” option may be a temporary restructuring or majority ownership. The real word to describe this is Nationalization, but Americans have weak stomachs and just cannot seem to deal with strong language like this.
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LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/opinion/22sun1.html?_r=1
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