This week I attended a breakfast seminar on (what else?) the economy and I have to say it was interesting. The speaker was the author of a popular book (which I won’t name because I don’t want to get sidetracked) on one aspect of our economic society but set in 2007. So it was a bit dated and he was scrambling to plug his next book, which will be an update post meltdown. He was a fine speaker who used anecdotes to illustrate trends and theories and it was entertaining.
What I found fascinating was how enrapt the audience was on the subject. Where are we going? Is it at the bottom? It’s a rocky bottom. Things will never be the same again. Luxury is a dirty word. We have lost $10 trillion in net worth worldwide, which is the equivalent of the GDP of Germany, Japan, and the UK combined. Real estate will never come back. An apartment sold last week in Manhattan for $6.5 million that sold last year for $12.5 million. Oh my God! People are full of factoids and there is an insatiable need for us to hear stuff we haven’t heard and to share info we may have that others don’t.
Now I don’t want to minimize the situation in any way. People have suffered ruined careers, lost life savings and in the case of some older baby boomers they may never have again anything near what they had before in terms of net worth or lifestyle.
But what I am fascinated about is the public’s obsession with this meltdown to the exclusion of everything else. We are at war in Iraq…don’t read all that much about it if you think about it. Pakistan? Yeah it’s an open wound but again it’s on page 8 of the paper unless there is a large incident. Hate those North Koreans but he’s nuts and maybe he will die soon. Terrorism? Let’s face we’ll never find Bin Laden.
But let’s talk bailouts, stimulus packages, Dow Jones Industrials and automakers, nothing else matters.
Just my observations and I’m not trying to editorialize.
Later.
Paul
