Michael Panzner submits:
Chief financial officers, corporate treasurers, and other finance professionals are in an unique position. They see what is happening on Main Street’s front lines. They have first-hand knowledge of what the banks are up to and day-to-day conditions in credit and other markets. They have access to raw data and strategic plans that allow them to gauge how things really are in corporate America.
With that in mind, I think most people would agree that their views should carry a bit more weight than the "smart money" types who are using cheap government loans to speculate in over-priced stocks and other risky investments and who are betting on the V-shaped recovery that ivory tower economists and Wall Street strategists love to pontificate about, but which is more permabull fantasy than anything else.