Warning to perma-bears this is a “green shoot” post.

Speaking to the Business Council, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO, said that the distress across the economy seems to be easing:

“The TALF program seems to be working in credit cards, so credit-card, student-loan and other rates are coming down,” Mr. Dimon said.

On the recession, he said, “It’s possible that we’re on the bottom and eventually will come out of it.”

Estimating that government stimulus efforts globally will top $4 trillion, Mr. Dimon said that “in total they are a pretty overwhelming force. No particular one is going to make the most dramatic difference. If one of them fails, the rest of them can work” and bring the economy into recovery.

Also at the meeting, Caterpillar’s CEO, James Owens said that, “There’s a sense in a lot of areas we’re finding bottom,” he said, “particularly in housing related areas.”

As you all know Bernanke testified somewhat along these same lines today. I always tend to discount what he says in front of Congress simply because I don’t expect him to go in there and yell fire, not because I think he’s a dissembler.

Believe me, blogging is a lot easier if you have crises to write about. The old newspaper saying, “If it bleeds it leads.” is just another way of saying that people don’t want to read about things going right. But there’s too much evidence that things are shifting in a positive direction with the economy to ignore.

Feel free to take your shots.

more: here