I strongly believe that this economic despair that I keep hearing all around is misguided.

The despair is engineered and promoted, so while you're correct that some people can potentially - with discipline - free themselves... the majority of people likely won't. One of the reasons bullying occurs in nature is so a strong party can, though abuse, weaken a lower status party, further increasing the bully's relative strength. Despair is being promoted because during a fundamental economic shift in which a minority benefit and a majority lose there will be discontent. Someone who is not in despair may take action that threatens the ascendant minority. Someone who is in despair is less likely to take action.