Google Global Markets...

Yesterday I was pondering the buried part of the financial industry - the landscape of debt which lies unseen.  Charts and graphs of economists & market men have all tried to portray a picture of what is happening to the world, with little consensus and varying models.  It is the unseen that cannot be charted and that is the unknown.  Way back in October Missmarketcrash read somewhere about the (debt) value of credit default swaps and various other things hovering around 72 trillion dollars.  Missmarketcrash is now kicking herself for not bookmarking said article, which was from a reputable source.  72 trillion is of course a variable number based on success or failure of instruments, and, some of that has been reduced slowly but surely by institutions in various ways.  I would not venture to even guess where that number lies now, but, it must be still rather large on the negative side as one can see from the scramblings of world politics and economies.  

Google Earth has saved my metaphorical soul this morning by releasing Google Oceans.  Yes.  One can dive into the great vast bit of the globe that used to be represented by a rather nice plain shade of blue and discover what lies underneath.  It is most amazing to have our map of the world expanded so greatly and I am an instant fan.  Look here for a glimpse into the great unknown.  

Come on Google.  The next application clearly ought to be Google Global Markets - we would all love a glimpse below the murky surfaces...

"It"

A name.  It now really truly most sincerely needs a name.  I've been calling It "The Situation" and "The-Situation-At-Hand" as of late.  We'll want to google this era in the future, and, what will we google?  Credit Crunch, sub-prime, economic crisis....none of these seem to have sticking power as the game evolves and more things happen.

The Great Depression sounds rather foreboding, and, it was.  The problem with naming It is that no one wants to invest It with more gravity than it deserves.  

Yesterday I caught a glimpse of the new U.S. payroll loss numbers a bit ahead of schedule and some estimates were hovering close to 700,000 for December.   Today the figures were released -- 524,000 which is better, but, one must add in the other 154,000 they backtracked and added onto previous October and November figures.  And think of what will be tacked on in January to December's numbers.  That probably brings us back close to the 700,000 figure.  January is surely going to be worse.

Great Depression as a phrase is so terribly grave, it would be helpful to eliminate the depressing part of it. Did you know Roget invented the thesaurus to combat the severe depression he suffered throughout his life?  Indeed, list-making was his therapy.  

Get your pens and paper out and make a list of potential names for "It".  You might feel better.