Losing our shirts.

Like a social nicotine, the American public (myself included) has flocked to the screens of our news media industry to suck down the latest headline in real time, perhaps in hopes of being the first to know of something good…or really bad. (There is real intellectual and social utility derived from knowledge like that, right?) Why do we do this? In a perverse way, I seem to derive a certain amount of catharsis from this process—perhaps because I believe that I’ll gain closure or resolution by knowing the ‘bad news’ up front. Maybe it is just front-end masochism. Like eating the steamed broccoli first and saving the savory meat for last. 

 I think at this point we would all breathe a sigh of deep relief if Tim Geithner looked the nation and the Senate Finance Committee, or whoever, straight in the eyes, for once, and said something to the effect of, “Mr. Chairman, right now we are all screwed, and will lose everything before we can gain it back again. Thank you.” At least we would be honest with ourselves.