Most of us who are consumers of the media think of the press as negativity-mongers; and from a headline perspective that's generally pretty accurate.

Headlines are written to get attention though, and these days there's nothing attention-getting about bad news. Actually, it's quite the opposite; everyone wants to be first in line to have discovered the "glimmer of hope" or "silver lining." But I think that's created "positive spin" and has contributed to what I fear is a "hope bubble" in the market, which is up some 27 percent from its lows earlier this year on what I believe is not much more than a few "crocuses" peeking out of the frozen earth.

Watching CNBC one morning in April, only half-listening, I noticed at least a handful of references to "looking for good news" from "Squawk on the Street" co-anchor Erin Burnett. Particularly surprising was when she introduced a friend, a...