Comments on: Eyes Wide Open

By: Adil

Adil — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:58 +0000

Brad, being the member of the VC community, you must have some input to share on this crisis.

By: kyle_s10731

kyle_s10731 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:58 +0000

Also, I don't think Chris Dodd has read "The Black Swan" (also one of my faves and an absolute must-read these days). Check out this quote from a NYT article today:

–Senator Dodd called the crisis “entirely foreseeable and preventable, not an act of God,” and said that it angered him to think about “the authors of this calamity” walking away with the usual golden parachutes while taxpayers pick up the bill.–

By: Rowan

Rowan — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

Rugby and Australian football are two different things, though we play both.

Australian football highlights from 2007:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-PFRrJQtew

Much more exciting than Rugby.

By: alan_shimel2002

alan_shimel2002 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

Brad – how do you know they weren't masturbating while watching those spiky charts? I put nothing past those folks. I read this just after Bonnie informed me that I am no longer allowed to watch CNN in bed at night before going to sleep. She says it depresses her. Luckily I Tivo all of the old star trek series and will switch to them instead Welcome home

By: Damon

Damon — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

I used to watch the news a lot. Then one day I realized that it was depressing me and generally increasing my anxiety levels. So I turned it off. No local news, no CNBC, no politics, no nothing. And you know what? Not only did my mood improve, but my knowledge of what is happening in the world increased. Funny how you can find real information if you shut off the noise. I now watch about 5 minutes of the news per month, mostly by accident, and I'm better for it.

But ESPN? You'll have to pry it from my cold dead fingers. I will continue to drink college football 'til the white lines on field are burned into my retinas and I'm drunk with happiness. Go CU!

Now if we could only get rugby on the tube…

By: kyle_s10731

kyle_s10731 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

Welcome back, Brad. Congratulations on IntenseDebate's exit – I love the product, and I think the fit with Automattic should be great. I'm looking forward to the future of blogging.

By: bfeld

bfeld — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

I really don’t have any input. I’m not entirely sure what’s actually going on and I’m 100% sure I have no clue what the solution or presumptive outcome is.

By: kip

kip — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

Welcome back and happy vacation.
Long live ESPN! Viva TV coming from the Nutmeg State.

By: tony_casson5682

tony_casson5682 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

Here's what you need to know about the financial happenings. Over the last 10 years banks started replacing things (houses,cars, stocks,bonds, currency) that they used to hand out as collateral when they borrowed from other banks with black boxes containing pieces of all of those things. As long as all of the banks in the entire world were comfortable with the value of those black boxes everything was working fine – even though no one knew what they were actually worth. Over the last few years, the black boxes became so wildly popular that banks had no more real things to hand out as collateral. The perceived value of the black boxes was sky high. Now due to shady lending practices and a rash of foreclosures in the US housing market, there is no more confidence in the value of the black boxes and since this is all the banks have left to collateralize their debts to each other, they are no longer willing to lend.

The government is offering to buy up all the black boxes with taxpayer money so that banks can lend on things again. Over time, the black boxes may prove to be not as bad an investment as people think they are now, or they could wind up being a tragic waste of money for the taxpayer.

By: bfeld

bfeld — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:56 +0000

Yes – unfortunately with this statement Dodd demonstrated his complete and total cluelessness.