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Tag Archives: crisis

Econowatch

The new normal: Call it frugality if you like. We call it sanity.

So a banker walks into a bar…

Financial reporters (including this one) have tortured countless metaphors in their quest to explain what the heck is going on in the economy. But sometimes funny does a better job. And at a time of falling markets and uncertainty, it helps to hold on to a sense of humour. So without further ado, here are some of the best financial crisis jokes, sketches and comic strips that have hit our inbox or been scavenged from the Interweb. (Note to viewers: a couple contain profanity.)

Bailouts now, damn the consequences

When you’re standing in the midst of an economic storm, it’s hard to see more than a few feet in front of you. The actions officials take to stem a crisis can have deep and profound consequences in the long run, but at the time, they may seem absolutely necessary. Following the Dot-Com crash and the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan slashed interest rates to keep the economy from slipping into a long and painful recession. By 2004, the short-term rate was hacked to just 1 per cent. As we all know now, the move inflated the massive debt bubble that triggered the current economic crisis. It’s a common refrain to say Greenspan kept rates “too low, too long.”

When the next domino falls, look out Canada

Via Paul Kedrosky’s blog, I came across this column by Nouriel Roubini, whose predictions about this financial crisis so far have come true with astonishing precision. He address where he sees the contagion spreading next. In short, first the hedge funds will fall, then private equity firms will crumble: