The rumor spread down Flagler Street with a sense of urgency. Miami was a city of rumors, each of us trying to stay ahead of the latest in unrest. There was a way these things came through, a procedure. It came to me in broken Spanglish, filling the pause between the order of Café Cubano and the exchange of money. “They found the shadows yesterday. I think they’ll just leave it.” I wasn’t sure exactly what they were talking about, but I knew it was exciting. “It was the old Colored fountain.” What?
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Keynes to Success
The Federal Government has thrown its entire weight into preventing a Depression through a program of dedicated spending. The original bailout/stimulus of $700 billion is being matched by a project budget deficit of $1,100 billion for 2009, plus whatever President Obama proposes and untold amounts of money loaned by the Federal Reserve. All together, the total debt of $11 trillion is already similar to the size of our total economy, but we have been told that the additional borrowing is necessary to keep the economy running.
One question is rarely asked: What happens if it doesn’t work?
Friends
The worst of winter hits us all this time of year. The darkness of the Soltice takes a month or so to sink in, and we have arrived in our discontent of Winter right on schedule. This is a time for friends and family huddling up with whatever warmth we have. I’m very pleased to have seen how many friends I have out on the internet, just in time for the chill outside.
Stupid Like a Fox
It’s a common problem in the nooze lately. A story is told with blank objectivity over a few minutes of radio time or a several column inches of newspaper. It may have a decent interjection of context in the form of a short history lesson or a few juicy quotes that allow the participants to describe why they did what they did. Yet, in the end, there seems to be something missing. The story, despite the best efforts of the reporter, still just doesn’t make sense.
Spontaneous
A record 4.6 million people are drawing unemployment checks, and as many as 2 million could join them in the next year. That may seem like a Depression to some people, but what we can be sure of is that these losses will not be felt evenly. As companies opt to cut the highest paid workers through buy-outs, you can be sure that the Baby Boomers, ages 45 to 63, will disappear fast than anyone else. That means that one effect we can be sure of is faster generational change.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 