It's The Recession, Stupid

I have new least favorite phrase. I spent much of last week at seminars and networking events and meetings with others who do similar work. At many of these events we discussed, natch, the art of fundraising in difficult times.

The following phrases were pretty common:
"What do you think the impact of the economy will be for you?"
"Will you have to cut expenses because of the economy?"

Now, while the latter phrase I can give a pass, I find the former objectionable. There is always an economy, good or bad. I got a C on my Macro final mostly because I couldn't fathom how to reduce the economy to a point on a line or a variable in an equation, but I did understand that the existence of an economy was a constant in even basic societies.

Saying "the impact of the economy" is imprecise and euphemistic. We're in a recession. That's a problem. We're also in an economy, that's a constant.

There's a credit crisis, which may effect my organization (well, not mine, but ones that rely on credit). The financial system collapsed. There are lots of scary nouns and adjectives we can throw around, either to modify "economy" or to replace it. Choose the most applicable. Recession will do fine in most cases.

What will the impact of the recession be on my organization? I don't know, and it's scary to think about. Probably we need to do some strategic thinking and plan several scenarios. Asking me about the "impact of the economy" isn't less terrifying, it's just less precise. And annoying. Yes, I've seen that episode of the West Wing. So fine, call it a bagel. Call it whatever you want. But don't pretend that asking me about the impact of the economy means anything.