An Internal Battle

I was sick this past little bit and as such was stranded at home with media blaring out of the TV, first of all I was shocked by ads that say "for the same amount I can buy more" not spending less for the same, rather steadily consuming. The steadily consuming mentality has left me at the point where yes, more is nice, but not needed. The small apartment is nice because it helps me not have to have more when we are already stored to the seams.

Lately I've been reading the Wall Street Journal Economics blog. I don't really like the looks of things and agree highly with the following:

Death of Liberalization: Martin Wolf of the Financial Times takes another tack, and says the collapse of Bear Stearns marks the day the dream of global free- market capitalism died. “The implications of this decision are evident: there will have to be far greater regulation of such institutions. The Fed has provided a valuable form of insurance to the investment banks. Indeed, that is already evident from what has happened in the stock market since the rescue: the other big investment banks have enjoyed sizeable jumps in their share prices. This is moral hazard made visible. The Fed decided that a money market ’strike’ against investment banks is the equivalent of a run on deposits in a commercial bank. It concluded that it must, for this reason, open the monetary spigots in favour of such institutions. Greater regulation must be on the way.”

U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson remarked "At this time, the Federal Reserve’s recent action should be viewed as a precedent only for unusual periods of turmoil.” I am wondering what happened to capitalism and laissez faire? Seriously, it seems as though all the building blocks that this country was built on have been removed and now we have a Pyramid balancing on its tip. Just a few more pushes and down it goes.

Anyway, when I sit in my apartment and reflect on the current issues I am nauseated. I don't like the idea of regulation, and yet I guess its never really gone away after the Great Depression.
Ryan and I have been talking about what we could do during such a crisis, the brainstormed ideas were really eye-opening.

The week before a transformeer blew on campus leaving my office building powerless, and it was really interesting to think just how dependent I am on electricity. Talked to Ryan about this as well and he knows a heck of a lot more about how to survive without the conveniences of electricity than I do. He thinks it wouldn't be hard to build a cabin and connect it to a small magnetic turbine. My jaw dropped, cause he surprises me every day at just how intuitive he is.

Anyway, in lieu of current paranoia and hustle and bustle the continuing race to graduate before something really bad happens is on. 5 more semesters for me and 6 for Ryan, wish us luck.