There was H. Carl McCall, the former state comptroller and Democratic candidate for governor, lamenting that he "was really depressed" over New York's finances and "very pessimistic" about the prospects for solutions proposed by the Citizens Budget Commission, which sponsored the conference.
Until the economic conundrum is addressed, there is little prospect for a solution.
Yet, democratic decision-making also appeals to many risk perception researchers, and some see such little prospect for a solution thaty they seem close to surrendering to decision-making based on lay risk perception.
The firm said talks with stakeholders and other parties had not made enough progress to offer "a realistic prospect for a solvent solution".
Ms Merkel appeared gloomy about the prospects for a solution.
This kind of approach is counterproductive, and does nothing to accelerate prospects for a solution.
But without such a consensus, the prospects for a solution – and an ageing society – are bleak.
Prospects for a solution have also been complicated by hard-line Islamic jihadist fighters who have been entering Syria to fight Mr. Assad's forces but do not share the main opposition's goal of replacing Mr. Assad with a representative democratic government.
The combination of these two technologies offers good prospects for this solution.
By doing so, the world itself is pushing away the prospects for a solution, while pretending - or even believing - to be doing the exact opposite.
