The Economy and George III

Not that I planned to write about the economy but I don’t want to repeat that apocryphal story about George III that he wrote in his diary on 7/4/1776, “Nothing happened today.”

I always thought he got a bum’s rap since he obviously couldn’t get on Google News and how good was snail mail in those days? It wasn’t like carrier pigeons were flying the Atlantic.

But to get back to the economy. Something happened in the U.S.A. yesterday since that infallible indicator of our economic well-being, the stock market, tanked.

Apparently, even before the House vote on the bailout, stocks went south. Like the spoiled child who knows it’s not going to get a favorite treat, it held its breath, it stamped its feet, it screamed, it got our attention.

Then the vote is taken and the bill doesn’t pass; that much we know. And now, the spinning begins; always a tacky process (like stepping in tar, you never come out unscathed) but worse now with so few weeks until a presidential election.

As with so much history, we may never know if our economy is really in such dire straits, though I believe it probably is. We may never know if a tax-payer bailout of the richest strata of our society was a necessary step to help the economy.

The myth may once again replace the reality. (Remember WMDs?)

Perhaps George III was right. Nothing did happen today.

I Didn’t Buy The Yarn

I didn’t go to a big yarn sale this weekend. I was tempted for a few minutes but, the day after, I don’t have any regrets. Especially since I rearranged some yarn and made wondrous discoveries of forgotten yarns.

And this got me thinking about changing memes.

What if this society decides not to shop? What if for economic reasons and “moral” reasons people decide that American consumption is “over the top” and it’s time to get back to basics.

I’m not even saying that this would be a good thing - cleanse the soul, blah, blah - but just suppose this happens.

What will it do to our economy and our future? This isn’t the 20th century where we can manufacture ourselves out of a depression. So many other countries are nipping at our heels with superior talents and goods.

It is a scary time. But I do find knitting very peaceful.

A Beginning

With optimism and trepidation, I blog. Why do I think my voice is worthy of hearing? Why do I think my voice is worthy to kill all these electronic trees?  But I am not a “letter to the editor” person. Well, I’m not even a reader of newspapers.

All my reading is on the Internet. All my books, and there are so, so many of them, sit with accusing eyes. But, for better or worse, my literate life has become the Internet.

And so I blog. Counting the days to discover if this country, the United States of America, can put aside primal prejudice to elect a mixed race candidate. We will all see together.

So I blog, I knit, I think, I wish.....