Re: Re: Re: Speaking of volatility

[Rob Schaap <bantam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

G'day Doug,

> Once again, I have to remark on how weird it is that a bunch of
> friends of the working class are getting all excited about the
> prospects for recession, which means the disemployment of millions
> and lower wages for everyone else. Does the ghost of Andrew Mellon
> lurk over PEN-L?

My superannuation, over the disposition of which I have no control, is
somewhere in that mess, too, you know.  As are all our futures.  I just think
it quite rational to react to something about which one can do nothing, no
matter how ghastly, by looking for the silver lining.  And the silver lining
is that lots of smug suits get burned, lots of smug experts get loudly
contradicted by the facts, (the sensuous schadenfreude component) and people
might start thinking twice about surrendering their material, social and
political agency to unaccountable Big Finance and 'shareholder value' (the
virtuous political component) - geez, some might even think deeper than that.

And, as you're a pal, I'm happy that the reservations you expressed in *Wall
Street* might be vindicated at the expense of the credibility of rude critics
like that chap on the book's jacket.

Gotta go now - the Beeb is talking about how Japan's zero interest rates are
not stopping unemployment and bankruptcies rising at unprecedented rates.

Oh, and Beijing has the Samarympics, apparently.

Cheers,
Rob.