I got up around 3:00am today to write and took a quick look at Bloomberg.com (great iPhone application and a great source of really essential news) and, boy, does it seem like we are in a mess.
The $700 billion bailout package has made great progress, but House Republicans may yet vote it down (thanks for the stellar spanner in the works last week, Mr McCain). I don't like it any more than anyone else, but if you look at the world's financial markets - not just ours - it is crystal clear that something needs to be done fast.
Just today the British Government partially nationalized a collapsing building society, Bradford and Bingley (something between a US credit union and a bank), while governments in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg guaranteed an 11.2 billion Euros ($16.3 billion) lifeline to Fortis, a major European bank that is also at great risk of collapse. Meanwhile, Germany guaranteed 35 billion Euros ($50 billion) to Hypo, a major German real estate company. And trading in Dexia SA, a major lender based in both Brussels and Paris, fell as much as 33%. Last week there was a run on a bank in Hong Kong.
Add to this the highly perceptive Warren Buffet's warning that the United States - and the world - are facing a financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude (Buffet also warned of 3 million Americans losing their jobs in a matter of weeks if the Congressional/Treasury bailout package is not passed), and the old Laurel and Hardy line, "Another fine mess you've gotten me into," seems more than apt right now.
I do not believe the sky will fall. I am old enough and have been through enough, including the loss of a five year old son to cancer, to know that (to use another cliche), "Tomorrow is another day." But we should all ask ourselves just how did we get here and what can we do - each of us - to help get us out of this chaos?
If you scroll down a couple of entries on this blog, you will find a Buddhist quotation about how we perceive the moment too much as a conglomeration of all that has been, all we have done, our memories, emotion, anger, frustration, etc - instead of viewing it as an opportunity to create the future.
I think now is a very good time to think about the strength of nature. Think about a fallen tree in the forest: if its roots remain, new growth will sprout up. We all have to be those fresh green shoots right now, drawing on the past (drawing lessons from it, particularly) but reaching skyward toward sunlight and fresh air.
We will all survive. And even in a crisis, life is beautiful.
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