The sky continues to fall but life goes on.
1. It might be wise for me to avoid reading Nouriel Roubini if only for my own sense of security. But then I've always preferred to know, even when the news is grim. And there's no denying that Roubini was one of the few economists who saw this coming from far off and raised the alarm when most other egghead number-crunchers were patting themselves on the back and crowing about how great the economy was. (Tangential note: most economists irritate the shit out of me. The conceptual foundations of traditional economics--rational actors and all that--are woefully inadequate. I am happy to see that the behavioral economics folks are rethinking all that stuff.)
2. Doing some timely reading:
The Confidence Man by Melville
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel.
3. For various annoying reasons, we've been without the interwebs at home for a while now. Truth be told, I don't miss it.
4. The gas crunch in Atlanta is over. One way they solved it was by allowing dirtier gas into the Atlanta market. Normally gas has to meet tougher environmental standards here because of all the traffic and the poor air quality and this was slowing down the flow of gas to the area. Honestly though, the way people reacted to the gas shortage here has made the financial crisis that much scarier to me.
5. Seems tis the month for catching up with friends. That's one way to offset the otherwise grim climate these days. So let's catch up friends!
6. I fear that no matter who wins, the next president may very well be fucked from the get-go.
