Christopher Walken plays Robin Williams
What a world it would be were it ever to happen. Usually when I'm feeling a bit down and need a lift I'll purchase a copy of Fast Company (FC). The magazine is full of articles whose titles would easily fit with exclamation points:
"The New Economy!"
"Grassroots Revolution!"
"Thinking Different!"
Telling, isn't it, that the writers of FC are consultants, executives and salespeople. We all deserve a good measure of optimism occasionally; here is how FC characterizes the (very) depressed 'Silicon Valley':
"... now is a great time to start a new business. Everything's cheap, there's surplus talent, and as the veterans will tell you, "The tourists have all gone home."
FC is Robin Williams, spastic gestures included; good in well measured doses but maddening if exhorbitant in even the tiniest of quantities.
Economists love to refer to their craft as "The Dismall Science". The stoicism and oft dour opinions, while essential, are rarely sought for pleasure. How often do you see one of these creatures on a television panel show? A Trent Lott grandstanding, a George Will historyspotting, a James Carville shout|spitting - these are what people find entertaining.
Usually too much Economist makes one feel as though the world is ending -
So I was taken aback, shocked even, when I read an cautiously upbeat summary of 2002 at The Economist.
What is surely striking though, is how good things have been, not how bad. For 2002 has been a surprisingly good year. That even augurs well for 2003.
I begin shifting in my seat...
A world getting brighter
I cough up my apple juice...
Overall, the world economy looks like growing faster than in 2002, and should disappoint only those who dream of new booms.
And I'm thinking of Christopher Walken in cartoonish blue, overweight and singing a diddy. Moving maniacally from one accent impression to the next...
And now I'm feeling as though things aren't so bad: I'm more dove than hawk, I'm more San Francisco than Detroit, I'm more Nelly than Nas. I'm not waiting for The Real Estate Bubble to burst or for the Consumer Spending juggernaut to be crushed by Debt.
I'm even feeling a bit spastic...
6:05:22 PM 
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