Not a Big Truck

The current issue of Conde Nast Portfolio has a must-read article by Liar’s Poker and Moneyball author MIchael Lewis: “The End of Wall Street’s Boom.”  It’s a window into a world I haven’t known much about and offers one of the best explanations of the financial crisis I have read to date.

Two of my friends, one a Princeton grad and one a Berkeley grad, have lost their jobs in the last three weeks.  Neither of them worked on Wall Street.  These are the worst economic times that I can remember.  I have wondered what a full-fledged depression would be like if the current downturn worsens.  Today the Boston Globe takes a stab at answering that question.

Unlike the 1930s, when food and clothing were far more expensive, today we spend much of our money on healthcare, child care, and education, and we’d see uncomfortable changes in those parts of our lives. The lines wouldn’t be outside soup kitchens but at emergency rooms, and rather than itinerant farmers we could see waves of laid-off office workers leaving homes to foreclosure and heading for areas of the country where there’s more work — or just a relative with a free room over the garage. Already hollowed-out manufacturing cities could be all but deserted, and suburban neighborhoods left checkerboarded, with abandoned houses next to overcrowded ones.

I don’t have a good sense of how prescient these predictions are but the rest of the article is an interesting read nevertheless.

Looks like it has gone for Obama.  Congrats to WashingtonRocks for being the only one in our pool to predict it.

Wolf Blitzer suffers from an affliction that my high school English teacher would’ve called “diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain.” He has no insights to share, so he repeats obvious and vacuous statements and sprinkles in unnecessary narration of on-screen graphics, seldom pausing to organize his verbal mayhem into sentences but instead using “um” and “uh” to keep the stream of shit flowing without interruption.

Here he is during the seconds leading up to the polls closing on the West Coast last Tuesday night.

Transcript of his remarks:

So in a few seconds, those states will be closing their polls and uh, presumably we’ll be able to, uh, see what’s going on and uh, make uh, perhaps a major projection at that point, uh, this is a moment that a lot of people have been waiting for.  This is a moment that potentially could be rather historic.

“Potentially could be rather historic.” What a dolt.

Just want to follow up on the electoral pool (which I most clearly didn’t win).

If we use electoral votes as the criteria: RedLine wins, unless Missouri goes for Obama (in which case Ying wins)

If we use state as the criteria: RedLine wins, unless Nebraska second district goes for Obama (in which case WashintonRocks wins) or if Missouri goes for Obama (in which case Ying wins)

It’s truly amazing how much better McCain looks as he is giving his concession speech than he ever did during the campaign.  Physically, his face looks relaxed; he isn’t grimacing and he looks comfortable.  He isn’t making Frankenstein faces and herky-jerky motions and he appears to be at peace.  He looks more like the John McCain we all used to know.

It’s roughly 9:40pm Eastern Time…the election is basically over since Ohio and New Mexico (and Pennsylvania) have been called for Obama. But a quick visit to www.barackobama.com directs you to a page begging you to call voters in swing states. Someone tell these guys its over

(Well, at least they realize it’s election day, doesn’t look like McCain’s site has changed other than a small link to a find your polling place part of the site).

Read for yourself.

Looks like my previous prediction was right: Elizabeth Dole’s “Godless” attack ad against Kay Hagan and Hagan’s effective response have all but ensured a Democratic victory in the Senate race.

From the Public Policy Polling blog:

It is pretty clear to me based on our polling this weekend that Kay Hagan will be headed to the US Senate unless something very bizarre happens in the next 72 hours. While numbers in the races for President and Governor are basically unchanged from last week there has been clear movement away from Elizabeth Dole, a sign that her ‘Godless Americans’ ad is blowing up in her face.

Hopefully the promise of a strong showing by Hagan bodes well for Obama’s chances in North Carolina.