Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Late one night after my third Fresca, I jammed “recession” into Wikipedia and began, with no small amount of resolve, to unravel the economic realities of today. Certainly the pundits and analysts have made it clear: we may or may not be in a recession, and really the crux of the argument seems to settle on whether the emperor is buck naked or just chronically averse to clothing.

Bleary-eyed, I took another sip of grapefruit swill and began to Wikireadia, first the outline, then the most interesting section, and seconds later my pupils glazed over entirely, clouded by the realization that I didn’t give three shits and a ha’penny about the subject. I mean, I was the guy who left the macroecon final early, all Dead Poets Society defiantly, for a sterling C- average.

This is what I’ve gathered: stuff is expensive, the job market sucks, and oil futures be bangin’. Every generation has its lines in the history textbook. The prior generation had its recessions, the Challenger explosion, the Kennedy assassination, civil rights, ‘Nam. Our grandparents lived through the Great Depression and one, possibly two World Wars. We’ve had riots, O.J., natural disasters, Di, the towers, our own wars, and now this. And part of dealing with the day-to-day is to save, lock it down financially, but the wisdom of the ancients also seems to recommend avoiding it. Not thinking about it, in a kind of benevolent denial. I guess the experts are right.