welcome: stretch your thinking

Welcome to the elastic thinker.

At the outset of my one-year graduate school experience in the great city of London, the world is facing obstacles unseen in my lifetime, certainly for the generation preceding mine. We are now entrants into an age where a Treasury secretary can be compelled to kneel and beg in front of the House Speaker for emergency legislation that, under normal circumstances, a lobbyist would ask for over a glass of wine and dinner at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

All rules are thrown out the window. Indeed, as the United States Congress mulls over throwing the nation’s most expensive life saver to the damsel in distress, the U.S. financial system, we have to consider the economic implications and social equity of a $700 billion bailout, and all the while understand the impact on the political scorecard in the 2008 presidential election.

The purpose of this forum, and thus of its title, is to discuss both sides of a variety of subjects under the sun. While much of the mainstream business press lauds the markets, the ways of Wall Street and its every move, the latest financial collapse is further proof that the markets in the short run tell us nothing about real growth and economic strength. Give a bull market five years and out comes an Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, Freddie/Fannie, Lehman Brothers, AIG and Washington Mutual. Once the next bubble forms and bursts, how big will the bailout have to be?

During my experiences as a business journalist and government grunt, I have seen that nothing is absolute. One camp may argue that free trade uplifts the direst developing countries and another may argue it destroys American industry and thus the fabric of the American middle class. Both side have valid arguments – this forum will attempt to bridge those views.

Of course, this will also serve as a sort of day-to-day diary of my experience in London, so be sure to check out those posts too.

Over the next year, read this spot for my views on international politics and economics, music, sports, and I hope you can join in the conversation.