[Note added 09/24/08: There is now a sequel post to this one, offering several more examples of the Frankensteinian “monster amok” theme as it’s being used in contemporary economic discourse.] Has anybody else noticed the increasing prevalence of monster metaphors, especially Frankenstein-themed ones, in mainstream public discourse about the mounting economic and financial disaster? I’m…
Category: Economy
A meltdown still in progress (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: The meltdown has not been cancelled America’s economic crash and fall from international supremacy are still proceeding nicely, notwithstanding the proliferation of early calls for “the end of the credit crisis,” which seems to be bandied around as a psychological euphemism for “Everything’s great again!” and also notwithstanding the proliferation of…
America’s bill has just come due (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: America’s bill is due. Are you ready to pay? For those of you who still don’t know — and just where in Godâs name have you been? â- Richard Heinberg is a major voice in the collective peak oil/economic meltdown/peak civilization conversation. He’s awesomely smart, insightful, sensitive, educated, and well informed….
Say goodbye to business as usual (Headlines from the Meltdown)
CARDIN COMMENTS: Bye-bye to Business As Usual If thereâs a single theme that unites the past weekâs crop of news, analysis, commentary, and prophetic utterances, it is that Business As Usual â a term that surely deserves the proper-noun caps by this point â is altogether dead. Okay, that may be jumping the gun a…
Slow bleed or spurting wound? (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: An economic bleedout or a swift death? I’ve written such an extended assortment of commentary to go with the assembled items below that I’ll let them do most of the talking for me this week. Just scroll through and look for my introductory comments, which are clearly marked. But I’ll pause…
The end of the future as we knew it (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: It’s the end of the future as we knew it (and I feel fine) What a week! From food riots to fuel prices to more evidence of financial and economic meltdown, it was one for the history books. But in fact what’s more important to notice than the significance of all…
Food riots in Egypt
Here’s the link and associated description: Global Food Crisis April 9, 2008 In some countries, food inflation is turning violent, with Divya Reddy, Eurasia Group; Victor Lespinasse, GrainAnalyst.com; and CNBC’s Erin Burnett. http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=707473516 The video stream takes a bit of time to load — or at least it does through my satellite Internet connection —…
There’s a new world coming (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: There’s a new world a-comin’ Various life obligations have kept me from composing a detailed comment for this week’s installment of Headlines from the Meltdown, so I’ll let others do the talking for me, including Carolyn Baker, Richard Heinberg, and Eckhart Tolle (see below). But if I were to write up…
Bernankenstein and the Economonster from Hell (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: Bernankenstein and the Economonster from Hell Okay, so that’s a silly title for this week’s comment. But I still like it. For one thing, I’m hugely fond of the Hammer Horror films from Britain’s Hammer Studios back in the 1950s-1970s. All of their horror series started out strong — the Dracula…
Is this “The End”? (Headlines from the Meltdown)
GENERAL COMMENT FROM CARDIN: Is this THE END? We’re all familiar with the stereotypical cartoon figure of the ragged, shaggy prophet wearing a sandwich board with the blaring painted message, “The end is near!” By all rights, that prophet ought to be wandering the sidewalks of Wall Street at this very moment in order to…