Cheaper Than A Therapist, Safer Than A Meltdown - The NY Times Measuring National Emotions

The latest form of forecasting the weather.  No satellite needed, just plenty of moody Americans.

The New York Times wants to know your gut emotions.  You can post your feelings about the economy once each day by going here. 

First, let editors know whether you are "employed" or "unemployed,"  then you can enter your own word to describe your mood, OR pick from their list of 30 words, 20 of which are negative and only 10 are positive or neutral.  I suggest they balance the list.

At any given moment, you can see how the nation is emoting by the largest words on the site.

Ponderings:

1. I can't wait to see how the emotional trends line up with Wall Street spikes and dives.

2. Even better, could the Times predict future populist uprisings? 

3. Might drug makers kick up their anti-depressant advertising during week-long trends of negative confessions? 

4. Will Macys offer more coupons on "confident" days?

5. Will the entertainment industry see national depressive mood trends as a money-making chance to ratchet up comedy programming? 

6. Might we all wonder why we don't feel like the majority of the country, and choose to jump into the emotional herd?

7. Will Washington pay attention?  Will lawmakers take note? 

8. Will the daily hits on the Times' Web site shoot so high they skew the number of actual readers of news?  And will the Times' ad salespeople use that to their advantage?

I went to the site today and declared my mood.  I picked "employed."  Then I clicked on "nervous."  The top emotions on April 1, 2009 at 10:14 a.m. MDT were: Optimistic, anxious, disgusted, hopeful, worried, stressed and resigned.