I broke all previous personal records, and managed to actually place 3rd in my age group (25-29)!! This is a huge personal accomplishment, and has firmly cemented my future (and present) as a triathlete. Soon, I will post a photo of myself during the race, which will firmly cement my reputation as a slightly deranged person, as I typically find myself grinning throughout the entire bike/run legs of the race. I know. No one else is. Next, I am really curious what my brilliant friends and family think about the extremely tenuous current state of the American economy and banking system.
Young people do not seem to be concerned. Older people do not seem all that concerned. I am utterly shocked at how HUGE an issue this is, and how little mainstream alarm seems to be raised.
In my opinion, if you are not deeply concerned about this, you are simply not paying attention! Things look mighty grim, and the Fed just prevented catastrophic global economic collapse by bailing out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
But the headlines are still peppered with celebrity news amidst a coy "Euro climbs to 1.60 record high against US Dollar" sidebar. What is wrong with us?
Anyhow. I'll stop being an alarmist and just ask quite sincerely for your comments. I really do want to know what you all think. I'll even enable easy, anonymous commenting.
Love,
~F
4 comments:
Triathlete ! What a crazy idea.
Third place sounds impresive. Were there more than three entries ?
Did you read my blog of some time ago entitled " Economics 101".
No one could be more pesimistic than your scribe.
Instead of doing my what now seems ridiculous 30 minutes of daily exercise I thought I would address your very valid concerns. You probably know I make a living selling FNMA and FHLMC issues - a lot of my clients (banks) own their preferred stock which was just downgraded and would yield in the double digits at the current price. The problem is huge and is not new - it is something that has been going on for a very long time and no one was willing to address because everyone on Wall Street was making so much money. The government has not bailed them out (yet) - but because they have been allowed to get so large with so little oversight they cannot allow them to fail because it would cripple the markets worldwide. There is no easy answer when the markets have been based on faith for so long and that faith fails.
Following up on Amycue's comment, I believe the "lack of faith" in the markets is a result of lack of leadership at the corporate level and lack of regulation at the government level. Corporate leaders are only interested in boosting todays numbers so their bonuses and options yield obscene remuneration for no leadership. The government (Congress and the Executive) is not interested in biting the hand that feeds them with huge campaign funding and perks and so there is little oversight or prosecution of corporate crime. There exists in this country and others a growing lack of INTEGRITY among so-called leaders, resulting in a growing burden on society to pay for their misjudgements. No longer do they have to pay the consequence, the taxpayer does. You and your generation will be paying for their party for a long time.
Seriously, though, I know you are crazy busy, but please post a new blog. We miss your fresh new words.
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