Thumbs up or down?

Some days I wonder if I can be too crabby.

I received an e-mail at my e-mail address that read as follows:

“Mr. Krause,

“In your June 8 NN ‘Coin Market at a glance’, you twice used the phrase economic ‘repression’. I’m sure you meant to use the correct term – ‘recession’.

“Let me point out tho’, that the U.S. economy started growing in late spring /summer of 2009 after falling 6% in the last six months of the GW Bush presidency. The U.S. economy certainly isn’t growing as fast as is needed to get the millions of unemployed back to work, but it is incorrect and misleading to say that we are in a ‘recession’.

 “But then, you didn’t say we are in ‘recession’, did you ?

“Were you being ‘cute’, or just sloppy in your writing?”

My reply?

“Dear Sir:

“Mr. Krause has been retired for 20 years, so you will have to settle for an answer from me.

“Harry Miller meant repression when he wrote repression. It is the theory that big banks are manipulating prices lower in the bullion markets. Whether it is true or not is the question.

“Had he used the term recession as it relates to the economy, it would still be correct. The National Bureau of Economic Research is the official arbiter of recessions and they have not yet declared this one over. Until they do, we are officially in a recession.

“Harry Miller was not being either cute or sloppy.

“Thank you for your interest.

“Sincerely.”

That’s the reply. What do you think?

I needn’t have worried, though.

He came back with a retort that included, “Coin collecting is fun and I love it, but the cynicism and ‘alternative’ world view of many of its enthusiasts sometimes makes me scratch my head.”