The Panic of Oh-Eight

Fun day at the word factory. I managed to come up with such phrases as "A lot of the company's toxic real estate loans ..." and "... the onrush of grim news..." and "Subprime exposure has done as much damage across the pond as in the United States ..." and "It's part of a much bigger slide." Yes indeed, the times are entirely too interesting. We'll be going back a barter economy any time now.

My line of work takes me to many financial web sites, including those off the deep end occasionally. More than once I've run across pontifications on how the establishment of the Federal Reserve was a ghastly mistake. That's obvious, isn't it? How much more impoverished the nation is now than in 1913.

I'm not in favor of dismantling the central bank, but I am for bringing back "panic" to denote vast economic dislocations. So accurately descriptive. "Depression" was originally a euphemism, I think, but after the Panic of the 1930s, that had to be retired too. No matter how bad a recession is, there's been only one depression.

Don't want to end the week on a dismal note, though. So here's a birthday cake:

Yuriko's birthday was recently. This is actually an ice cream cake, and some of it is still in the freezer, awaiting its fate.