Sunday, May 17, 2009

Perhaps there is something to be said for monastic poverty

My Personal Credit Crisis - NYTimes.com

If there was anybody who should have avoided the mortgage catastrophe, it was I. As an economics reporter for The New York Times, I have been the paper’s chief eyes and ears on the Federal Reserve for the past six years. I watched Alan Greenspan and his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, at close range. I wrote several early-warning articles in 2004 about the spike in go-go mortgages. Before that, I had a hand in covering the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Russia meltdown in 1998 and the dot-com collapse in 2000. I know a lot about the curveballs that the economy can throw at us.


Worthwhile NYT confession by one of its leading economics writers.

I find, these days, I have housing and utilities, food, the ability to buy second hand books on Amazon, the ability to pay for internet access, and virtually nothing else.

I know that compared to billions this is a luxurious existence, but I think it's a level that (without much effort) our modern technologies could make available to all.

I think the only think extra I would really like would be the ability to buy some *new* academic books.

No comments: