Friday, August 10, 2007

A Word Of Optimism

Right now the news is not good. There is a credit crunch going on around the globe. Central banks are pumping liquidity into the system in hopes of getting things moving. The financial markets are incredibly volatile.

But, there is room for optimism here. Right now there are a ton of really smart people in offices all over Wall Street who are working 16-hour days 7 days a week, living off of the antacid of your choice and bad Chinese delivery trying to figure out a way through this mess. These people are not water-skiing behind yachts. They are working their asses off trying to figure this thing out.

And the best part about this whole thing is that when things get tight (as they are now) the profit motive will force people to listen to any idea out there. Right now, a mail clerk could walk into a CEO's office and say, "I know how to fix this whole mess. It involves 10,000 Russian soldiers, a witch doctor from Louisiana and a Chinese monk chanting the Arabic alphabet backwards, sung to the tune of Deep Purple's Highway Star", the the CEO will say, "tell me how this works". So long as it might realistically work, they'll try it.

The point is Wall Street and the central bands around the world are on the job. And these are some really smart and capable people who will get the markets through this mess. That does not mean it will be easy. In fact, the news will continue to be bad for awhile. But the markets and the economy will get through this; it will end at some point.