This recession is really bad, its the first systemic failure of globalization in the electronic age. I am a naturally negative doomsayer and I think this will end in a large war within 10 years, but now I’m seeing some irrational pessimism that I don’t buy, regarding all banks, and so I’ve bought Goldman Sachs stock.
Jeremy Warner says it well in the Independent:
“If every house on your street was put up for sale all at the same time and it was announced that they must all be sold within the week, you wouldn’t expect to get much for your property…Nobody in their right mind would think of participating in such a firesale unless they absolutely had to, yet this is the sort of nonsense approach to valuation which is now routinely applied by analysts, accountants, regulators and financial commentators to bank and insurance balance sheets.”
In a club on a mobile phone (sad I know) so poor linking, but I urge you to read Rob Patterson blog (put PEI in the search terms) Anything about food and or heating should be a wake up call.
PS Loved the way you nailed the German real estate agent in your Dubai post over at Smashing. Love it when people articulate feelings Im not canny enough to create words for.