"The evolving thinking is that electronics extends our central nervous system, and that economic news in particular has hit the point of speed and saturation that our microeconomic daily freak-outs are becoming the new macroeconomics" [1]
The cover story in the Sunday Supplement to yesterday’s local print newspaper carried a veritable FNORD-fest of great reasons to turn off the catastrophic economic news which is finally seeping into even mainstream sources. My favorite was the above, by respected Canadian postmodern novelist Douglas Coupland, who continues: "As we know, bad news travels instantly, good news ends up on a slag heap. Remember, capitalism is a robust system. Things will get better. This will pass."
So now you know. Any Doomers dig up some positive stuff from the tailings lately? Considering how that T-bill bubble’s been looking lately, a bit of happy-clappy would sure go down good about now.
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[1]: "Shoot the messenger: Bad news getting you down? Nervous about the economy or your pension? Feel free to blame the media, say some economists", by Brenda Bouw, CP / Halifax Chronicle-Herald, January 11, 2009.
I think more fraud is being exposed, or um realized, so maybe that’s good news.
Oil prices, according to a podcast on Bloomberg, will bottom out around 33 bucks a barrel. That looks good. You could even invest today, and while you wouldn’t get the absolute bottom, you’d probably turn positive within weeks, maybe a few months. Either way, good long term bet. Supply declining, new exploration projects being cancelled, OPEC waking up a bit, Cantarell dropping…. to me, energy related looks like a safe bet (not alternative… too iffy, unless Obama does something). But not if you want to make a killing right away.