coyotesuspect

Ah, so I forgot that yesterday was Thursday. So here are some articles a day late. Subject du jour: the ecopocalypse

The End of Wall Street's Boom
Portfolio.com, November 2008

"The era that defined Wall Street is finally, officially over. Michael Lewis, who chronicled its excess in Liar’s Poker, returns to his old haunt to figure out what went wrong."
Long and complicated. I understood maybe half of it, but the half I was able to understand did a good job of explaining the financial crisis and really pissed me off.

Wall Street on the Tundra
Vanity Fair, April 2009

"Iceland’s de facto bankruptcy—its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance—resulted from a stunning collective madness."
By the same author as the previous article. Also long, but with less jargon. This is a fascinating account of Iceland's financial collapse, with interesting bits about Iceland's culture and history thrown in.

Too Poor to Make the News
New York Times Op Ed, June 2009

"How the recession affects the already poor."
Terribly depressing, but a worthwhile read. By the estimable Barbara Ehrenreich.

The Capitalist Manifesto: Greed Is Good (to a point)
Newsweek, June 2009

"The simple truth is that with all its flaws, capitalism remains the most productive economic engine we have yet invented. Like Churchill's line about democracy, it is the worst of all economic systems, except for the others….What we are experiencing is not a crisis of capitalism. It is a crisis of finance, of democracy, of globalization and ultimately of ethics….No system—capitalism, socialism, whatever—can work without a sense of ethics and values at its core."
An excellent and thought provoking piece.

Public Debt: The biggest bill in history
The Economist, June 2009

"Without bank bail-outs the financial crash would have been even more of a catastrophe. Without stimulus the global recession would be deeper and longer—and it is a prolonged downturn that does the greatest damage to public finances. But in the long run today’s fiscal laxity is unsustainable."
The Economist continues its habit of being lucid, intelligent, and reasonable. If more people were like The Economist, the world would be a better place.

Happy reading! More articles on the ecopocalypse available here.

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In other news: Psych was adorkable as always. Oh Shaun, I could take your daddy issues so much more seriously if I didn't watch Supernatural. <3 Also, I need to stop watching my little sister's shows, because I just want to femslash everybody. *sigh* Also-also, why is the Big Bang Theory so god awful yet all the fic so good? That is unnacceptable.

La. Pumped out 1200 words of Supernatural crack earlier today, despite the fact I have dozens of other fic ideas I've been working on. We'll see where that goes.