Pretty much my only indulgences in life these days are (a) lattes from Fraiche, across the street; (b) reading the newspapers – – specifically, the New York Times, WSJ, and Barron's. I found a couple of good tidbits over the weekend.
The first is from Barron's, which is an interview with Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor from NYU. Barron's writes:
…the warnings of economist Nouriel Roubini fell on deaf ears. For the past two years..[he].. has cautioned about a huge housing bubble whose bursting would lead to a 20% drop in home prices; a collapse in subprime mortgages; a severe banking crisis and credit crunch; the near-failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and a U.S. recession of a magnitude not seen since the Great Depression. So far, this latter-day prophet of doom has been on the mark, though time will tell about the recession part.
So let me get this straight. This guy was one of the only people on the planet to predict a entire litany of outcomes that most would have considered unthinkable, and now that the first six of his seven predictions have come true, Barron's actually writes "...though time will tell about the recession part."
Sigh.
People seem reluctant to abandon denial. At this point, Professor Roubini could tell me that Jesus Christ was going to appear on tomorrow's edition of The View, and I'd fly out to make sure I got a good seat.
I'll do the second clipping later. This is enough for now.
