Yves Smith's blog naked capitalism has become my new first stop of the day.
The two most recent posts there are awfully reassuring about the next couple-few years. Dr. Doom is talking about a "Severe Global Recession," while one of Yves' informants, "a well connected international investor not prone to alarm or (normally) the use of capital letters," is saying that "the banking crisis is star[t]ing to bring international shipping to a halt."
The first reader comment on the Roubini post:
I find the contrast between the indubitably terrible condition of the markets, particularly in the credit markets and the shadow banking system, and the seemingly blase reaction of people in the street and ordinary businesses, to be really striking. I've read anecdotes of small businesses failing to get loans, but so far I haven't seen a single picture of an ashen-faced ordinary person that can match the despair of floor traders or the gloomy faces of Paulson and Bush.And the first reader comment on the shipping shudders post:
All in all, the memorable images of this crisis so far are of foreclosure signs and of people who inhabit that science-fiction like world that we call Wall Street.
Holy ShitWhen the folks described by the "contrast" commenter get the holy shits, I wonder what the Onion can do to rise to the level of their best work (the image is here)?
