October 8, 2008
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The sinking economy
I think that I'm going to take up a policy of isolationism. I'm going to implement firewalls at work and at home that prevent any content from the internet that contains the following terms:
economy
stock market
savings
bail out
AIG
crash
dow jones
unemployment
recession
gdpI am beginning to feel a little overwhelmed at the current situation we are in. In all the other times of economic crisis and trials in our history we were partially isolated. When everything went to hell in '29 there was newspaper, some radio, news reels in the movies, and word of mouth. You read one paper a day, and a fairly large percentage of the population was illiterate so they only got word of mouth. The radio was there but you could only listen to one station at a time and even then it was just snippets. If you were fortunate enough to be able to go to the movies then you watched a short news reel at the beginning of the movie that gave you a little news update, but even then the update might be a few days to a few weeks old.
In the late 70's you had about three or four TV stations which had one national news broadcast a day. There was no CNN, Foxnews, etc. There was plenty of radio but I'm not sure how much of it was actually devoted to news/talk and not just music. There was also newspaper and magazines.
Today it's all a little overwhelming You wake up in the morning and listen to the radio. You get news updates as you get ready in the morning and then drive to work. All throughout the day you get text messages from Reuters news update. You open up your internet browser and your home pages is the customized google homepage and you have a couple modules that have stories on the economic crisis. You get e-mail news updates. You can watch any of a dozen news stations on cable/satellite. There are numerous talk radio stations to listen to. There even is still newspapers and magazines if you desire.
I think that I'm going to avoid news for day. I'm only going to listen to Sirius Lithium 24 which is 90s Alternative and Punk. I'm going to just work like its 1999. I'm going to watch TV shows and movies on DVDs. I will refuse to talk to anyone about the current economic situation. I will not look at my investments (or more like financial drains). I will not check my text messages. I will not open news related e-mail. I will be free of all this negativity.
I will put the filters on the firewall at work and not tell anyone. Or perhaps I will just shut the router off and kill everyone's internet. I will blame it on the ISP. I will bear witness to a more positive enviroment. I will not let the media act as if they Chicken Little. I know that times are bad but we will recover for the better.
I honestly won't be able to do all of that, but it does feel a bit overwhelming at times. I just wonder exactly how much of the problem is being worsened by the medias constant drumming about the economy. They have accomplished one thing though...they have moved the focus of the election onto the economy in the matter of about a month and a half.
In a little less stressful news our dog had a dental cleaning today. Let me just say that I'm glad that a cleaning for us humans isn't as involved as it is for a dog. They have to put them under to do the cleaning and as if that wasn't bad enough he had a dental vaccine. The vaccine goes into their hip and it is extremely painful....bad enough that they have to have pain meds. Even though the shot is really hurting the little guy it will probably be better in the long run since small dogs get periodontal disese that is usually pretty serious. The bad thing is that he has to get a booster in 3 weeks and shots every six months.The little guy is typically full of energy and spunk but he is just all beat up. Hopefully he is better tomorrow but jeez, he's a mess today.
Nothing else really exciting....had chinese for dinner and watch some House. I'm going to go to bed now, thankfully there is only a couple of more days left in the work week.
Comments (3)
Well, I can tell you one DVD NOT to rent -- The Happening. We watched it tonite and it was AWFUL.
They play CNN all day long at my work and all day long, I feel like jumping off a bridge. What's worse is when the guys, who are all finance savvy, go on and on about how bad the situation is. I'd hate to be naive, but hearing all this makes me want to be naive just so I don't stress out so much.
Your plan sounds good!
I think what gets to me more then anything is that these companies are just feasting off the proffits and I worry that little to none of it is going to actually go to helping them dig out. I mean, really- AIG spending 400k on a party for their executives to celebrate the government intervention? Are you -kidding- me?
I'm sorry- I'm probably not helping your worries any. I know the ultimate fear is of a Depression, but I truly think things will swing back. It might take a little while, but if you don't need the money between now and then, I'd hold strong where you are. I believe as soon as the housing market rebounds (which, from everything I read, estimates to be about 2 years) the economy will start to be on the upswing again.
I know you're not particularly fond of the Democrats thanks to their insane gun legislations, but when it comes to money, I like to think they have a better handle on it- at least better then the Bush administration has. I just don't believe the 'trick-down effect' works at all.. at least it hasn't for the past 8 years. But, since the Dems were the ones to push this wall street payout through, I'm having a hard time totally trusting them. Where's the damn oversight they keep talking about? Grr.
Sorry, this has been bothering me too, and I don't even have a cent invested in the markets- I just worry about the long term effects all of this is going to have on everyone.
And I couldn't agree more with you about the media's influence. It's disgusting, but I suck and I eat right into it just to 'keep up' with what's happening. Double edged sword.
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