What's the opposite of Irrational Exuberance?

Sukumar Ranganathan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:32:00 GMT

Under News

It is now almost 12 years since Alan Greenspan first used this term which quickly became common currency to explain things that analysts couldn't understand.
In 2000, Yale professor Robert Shiller borrowed the term for the title of his book on bubbles.
As the front pages of newspapers, even Indian ones, begin to devote more space to stories of how companies are cutting costs or/and jobs and considering selling off parts or all of themselves, it is a good time to look for an equivalent opposite of the term. After all, just as there was never enough economic evidence to explain why everyone felt as good as they obviously did, there isn't enough to explain why everyone is now feeling as bad as they obviously are.
Sure, things are bad.
And sure, things could get worse (a colleague from Mumbai tells me that he has noticed a clear New Delhi-Mumbai split here; policy makers in Delhi are saying "the worst is behind us and things can only get better", while executives in Mumbai are saying "things will only get worse").
But that still doesn't explain why even profitable companies are doing the kind of things they're doing.
So, going back to the original question: is there an opposite for "irrational exuberance"?
Fatalistic despondency?
Unreasonable pessimism?
Neither has the cadence of "irrational exuberance" but we could definitely do with a term that explains why everyone feels as bad as they do.
Any ideas Constant Reader?

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What's the opposite of Irrational Exuberance?