A Dead Cat Bounce

Dear worriers,

Is it my imagination that the economy is going straight to hell? (wow, powerful intro. good job casper. – ed) If I run the numbers on my crappy cars and newly rising gas prices, by the end of the year it might cost me money to actually drive to work. What’s a poor knowledge worker to do? Even the funds to cut down dead trees in the forest have dried up. What’s a poor no-knowledge worker to do? Telecommute to some place with a big pile of cash on hand, I guess. Marketing? It’s gonna be a bummer when their next round of venture capital doesn’t come through because the angels are spooked. Whee!

So where are we? If everyone’s petrified, that should affect the election, I would think. Oh, wait. Neither of these jackholes has a real economic plan either. Free healthcare from the government! My employer would be free to drop the good coverage for the guv’mint version to realize the savings, but do I get a raise? Donations have dried up too since the free pool of philanthropy has turned to fire victims. It’s a noble thing to do, but to answer my own question, no. I don’t get a raise. But Chevron is expecting record profits, so that’s nice.

The Dow Industrial Average went up today on the strength of Wal-Mart profits, which means that traders are insane. Shoppers have flocked to a bargain retailer at the expense of others and it’s a good sign? Sounds like panic to me. “Is there anything good anywhere? Okay, we’ll buy that…” What a stinker.

There’s gotta be a bright spot somewhere, right? I don’t see it, but please throw something in the comments (except for the sad, weeping cubicle slaves behind some ‘net nanny wall. send an email instead…) if you know something good that we can look forward to.

Thanks!

– bob