In 2003, a US government official called Armando Falcon warned the White House that companies such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were backing far too many dodgy mortgages, risking financial collapse and "contagious illiquidity in the market".

Did the White House look at tightening up regulations? Nope. They tried to sack Falcon. He was just being "negative".

An book by Barbara Ehrenreich, How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World gives an interesting angle on how management theory of the last decade the pursuit of positives, affirmations and delusional optimism contributed to big business irresponsibility.

After reading this review of the book, grumpiness seems a pretty balanced option.