I have a love-hate relationship with TechCrunch.  I love it because I think they are one of the best--if not the best--analytical teams to breakdown complicated tech business themes and get down to its important points.  They also always seem to break things first.  I often hate them because I think they publish too much--which means they have a lot of fluff non-story stories--and also because they report on any time certain companies (like Twitter) go to the bathroom.

But today they had a really good one about the irrational fear many companies (and people in general) are having over the down economy.  They take it on head-on and offer some good solutions to fight through it and innovate through it, rather than get paralyzed by the fear.  Good stuff.

Some people have certain been hit hard.  Our school systems in Florida have been hit very hard, but that's more a consequence of stupid voters than the down economy--another story altogether.  By and large though, most of us have not been effected (except for our 401Ks).  Most of the fear out there is unfounded, fed by negative headlines, and a self-fufilling prophesy.

Personally, despite seeing retirement accounts being slashed in half, we have continued to keep spending as much (or more) than we were before we were in a recession.  As an entrepreneur, I have lead MileSplit to continue spending, hiring, innovating, and re-investing in our business growth.  I have also expanded--and not contracted--our marketing spend.

In my other business, Evware, wihch is developing CRM solutions for small service companies, we have seen an INCREASE in interest in our software... which looks like it will lead to better sales numbers.  Of course our software is designed to stream-line companies by making them more efficient and thus should result in a net savings.  So it looks like some other people get it as well.