Reach your own conclusions

For the record: I have predicted in this space more than once since the middle of last year that we were headed for some level of economic crisis. One brief mention is in the Nov. 23, 2007, posting.

There is, I admit, a certain small satisfaction in being able to truthfully say I told you so, but it's very small. Only a genuine idiot would prefer that pitiful little satisfaction to a stable economy.

My point in mentioning it is that the current meltdown was easily predictable even by someone who now sits far outside the places where the wheeling and dealing is done. In fact, it doesn't take much expertise, and being outside the famous "loop" may be an advantage. If you keep your head clear and don't buy into the easy answers and one-sentence “solutions” of politicians and the people they work for, you have a better than even chance of understanding what's happening and, therefore, of figuring out what to do about it.