Monday, February 11, 2008

Grain of salt

There's so much saber-rattling going on these days about the economy. I would get caught up in the contagious fretting if I didn't read several times about the other "terrible recession" in the eighties. At that time, I was in my late teens/early twenties and politics and economics were just words the grown-ups cared about. All through that "recession", I had no trouble finding multiple employment opportunities. Then there was that book about the terrible stock market crash due in 1999. Was gonna turn the world upside down, remember? Nowadays, we're constantly assaulted with the recession word among other calamities, so much so that the news should just be retitled "Everybody Worry." I've heard the phrase a dozen times this week, "When the US economy sneezes, the world catches a cold." We should be afraid, very very afraid.

It's like peak oil. There was a show on the topic last night. I've read the hysteria, but again, what do I care if the oil companies lose their grip of power in the world. We humans are remarkably adaptable and clever, we'll find another way to power the world. The wind and the sun aren't going anywhere too quickly. I still think the biggest threat to the world is mutating viruses, but there's nothing we can do about that, so why worry about what you can't control.

We watched Hotel Rwanda last night. Riveting film. Tragic. It was so chilling to see the white UN peacekeepers say "Nobody in the west will help you, there are no votes here for them." Sometimes I just have to shake my head and wonder about how fucked up the world is, not the way we're being told it's fucked up, but the real things that happen slipping under the radar.

Well now, isn't this a jolly way to start the week.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everything is just so poopie. So what me worry? I noted with a great deal of interest that as I predicted several months ago, Euros are now not only being accepted here in the U.S. but preferred. Want to know what's next? Believe me you don't. In the immortal words of Irving Berlin: "Let's face the Music and Dance". Ed

CoffeeDog said...

The fact that everything is so eff'd up is always right there in the back of my mind. I try not to think too hard about it, lest I go insane w/worry.

bob said...

A decade in the asset management industry taught me that everything is cyclical. Yeah, the economy might be shite right now, but it will come back.

The media (and the public who pays for the advertising behind it) thrives on creating news, the doomier and gloomier the better. And we all have such short attention spans that ...

Oh wait. A winter storm is coming to the midwest, the local news is all a dither. Good! Now we have something else to panic about.

ChickenStrip said...

I see we both got the week off on the same start.

My BF says I like to worry. He asks me, What are you going to worry about today?


You're right - why worry about things you cannot change?

My adventures said...

I keep hearing about the recession but don't see it here in Houston. I guess big oil is the reason. It is pathetic that we're spending so much fighting in Iraq and we could have spent all that money helping in places like Rwanda and Darfur, we should all be ashamed, hopefully this election will bring a new era and we'll become the greatest generation for helping the world!! Or is it too late for our generation and we need to start directing the next to help?

Rox said...

I know. I know. I shouldn't be mad at Derwood for buying that quad...I'll let it go. (Plus, I drove it and it's alot of fun!)

I don't see any signs of things slowing down here in Alberta either. If anything, there are more jobs, more money, than ever. Of course, the cost of living is through the roof but when you're pulling in those big oil dollars, who cares?

Cooper said...

I guess it could be construed as a "hiding my head in the sand" kind of attitude, but I don't worry about this kind of stuff much. Oh, occasionally, when I allow it, media fueled anxiety does filter through my radar, but then I look outside and the mountains are still there, and the snow keeps falling (hell of a winter, isn't it?!). Chopping firewood for an hour or so helps, too. Sounds weird, I know ... but it does.

TWISI said...

hotel rwanda is a great movie and your right the world is fucked up.

as for the recession, my brother keeps saying it is being created by the media, i am starting to think the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Well, you know my position: the sooner it all blows up, the better.

Cherrfully yours,


PS I *do* wanna know what Ed thinks is coming next.

Adam said...

Nobody buys news that says, "Remain calm. There's a rational solution for this problem." Humanaity is so vain that we love stories of how our potential demise.

Anonymous said...

I sobbed through Hotel Rwanda. I had to force myself to watch the whole thing - I kept telling myself, 'those people actually lived it and I am just watching the movie', but I felt the "punched in the stomach" feeling after the first massacre images. I watched the whole thing, helplessly.

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid it is a Depression that will make the last one look tame. Many factors point that way including the large debt we owe to China and the Arab nations. Prophecy says that in one hour all our riches will come to nought (Stock Market crash) We will join the European Union and every member nation will become one nation. Israel will be attacked and we will not be allowed to help because we owe this huge debt to the Arab nations and because our Euro-government will forbid it. Only God will be able to help us. Let's hope She is watching. Hey you asked, have a good day. Ed

Nicki said...

I actually work for a company that IS affected by the economy, and it sucks.

Anonymous said...

I guess it's easy to just ignore the state of the economy if you are securely employed and that's fine, really! I'm not trying to sound snotty, but speaking from the other side, except for two brief freelance jobs, the husband has been unemployed for almost two years now with few prospects making themselves known. If you're one of the people out here struggling to get by while the price of essentials like gas and food continue to skyrocket, yeah, the economy sucks more than you could imagine and every single day presents itself with more worry and despair. So yeah, things aren't quite so rosy everywhere.

Snooze said...

Agh! I'm someone who can't cope with the big picture.

Anonymous said...

Good point. Funny thing, isn't it? "Recessions" never meant much to me. I always had work, food, shelter, savings. So has everybody I've known.

We live in such prosperous times that recession means much less than it used to.