DOOM!: It's what all the cool kids crave.

Greek Finance Minister Papaconstantinou: "A default is unthinkable." What most Americans don't know is that the Greek word "unthinkable" actually translates to "virtually certain".

“It would have a tremendous cost, with no benefit,” the minister, George Papaconstantinou, said in an interview on Greek television. “Greece would be out of markets for 10, 15 years.”

To financial markets, and to many other observers, it is more than thinkable. It is very close to a sure thing. When, how, and how messy it will be are open to question.

New Jersey looks to Greece and says, "Opa!"

From City Journal: What if everyone had a California state pension?

But by 2030, the Census Bureau projects the United States will have 139 million citizens between the ages of 25 and 55, and 112 million citizens 55 or older—a ratio of 1.24 to one. That works out to $44,300 per worker per year to support the retired population.

And speaking of state pensions -- states keep making the same old mistakes. It's actually not a "mistake" so much as it is cold political calculation. The pols and state workers are rolling the dice and hoping to keep the carnival train rolling long enough to retire with a fat pension and benefits package (at taxpayer expense, naturellement). After that, they don't give a damn.

Apparently, a 9% unemployment rate counts as good news these days. Truly this is the Age of Obama.

Doom. Doom! DOOOOOOM!

This might ease the DOOM-burn a bit: at least gas will be getting a little cheaper. It's those damned "speculators" cutting and running! (I expect the price of oil to go right back up, though. It's a basic supply-demand issue, and demand isn't going down by much.)

[UPDATE 1]: Remember back when buying stocks for their dividends was the whole point of investing in the stock market? Yeah, me neither. I'm told there actually was such a time, though.

You will never penetrate my force-field, hu-man!

posted by Monty at 09:01 AM

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