Good guidelines for these times:

My first-order response is that my most important advice comes by example and I have little idea what kind of message is actually being received.  Keep in mind that children often respond to your strengths with niche-finding strategies, and thus deviation, rather than copying strategies.

Otherwise, a long time ago I told Yana to take calculus and statistics; even if she hates them she'll know what side of that divide she stands on.  I am encouraging of learning languages, driving modest Japanese cars, and ordering the most unappealing-sounding dish on the menu of a good restaurant.  On investing it's buy and hold all the way.  Use TimeOut guides when you travel and when you are eating in third world countries avoid walls.  I'm not a big fan of debt; debt is worth it only if you're earnings-obsessed and I don't recommend that for most people.  Don't expect to be too happy, that is counterproductive.  I've mentioned that future job descriptions may be quite fluid and unpredictable from today's vantage point.  Being "good with people," combined with smarts and a focus on execution, will never wear out.  The reality is that I hardly have any useful advice.

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If Dan Lyons, er, Fake Steve Jobs, keeps penning articles like this one, he might actually see his Jobs schtick slip away in favor of authentic, blunt journalism.  The whole thing is worth reading a few times in a row, but for the sake of emphasis, I'm going to excerpt quite a bit of it right now.

Alternative energy is the next big tech market, the one that will spawn the next Google, or Apple, or Microsoft. But guess what? Those companies probably won't be based here. As Thomas Friedman pointed out in his column a few days ago, the Chinese are racing past us. They're investing billions -- in physics, in nanotech, in material science, in fuel cells, in solar. They're going to own this market.

Meanwhile we sit here with our heads up our butts, debating things like a gas tax or whether power plants should have to cut back on CO2 emissions and whether we can make this leap to a new paradigm without hurting our economy (read: without hurting the companies that sell oil and run coal-powered generators and which contribute loads of money to politicians in Congress.)

You know what? Like it or not, the whole goddamn world is going to shift away from fossil fuels. It's going to happen. And we're going to miss it. We've spent decades underfunding our scientists, treating them like shit, starving them of resources. Now, Obama has promised to boost spending, but guess what? Even if our scientists come up with great new technologies, our idiot politicians will do their best to keep anyone from being able to use them.

The oil companies will unleash Glenn Beck and his army of frigtards to attack the proponents of change, just like the health insurance companies have done on health care reform. Solar energy? It sounds so ... socialist. Carbon sequestration? Isn't that some kind of secret plan to take away our freedom? Glenn Beck gets his ratings boost, and who cares if the country gets fucked? Better yet, it's all done in the name of being patriotic. It would all be hilarious if it weren't so insanely tragic.

So here's what happens to us. We'll shift to new energy, because we'll have no choice. But we won't buy our fuel cells and solar panels and other power-generation technology from American companies. We'll buy it from the Chinese. Better yet, we'll buy it with money we've borrowed ... from the Chinese. Does nobody see this? We're living on heroin here, drugged out and happy. Our drug dealer is happy to keep the China White flowing, at incredibly reasonable prices. Why not? How better to compete with an enemy than to drug everyone in his camp?

And all this talk in Washington about bold action, and what a great and powerful nation we are, how brilliant and innovative? All this stirring music with trumpets blaring and soaring strings? Bullshit. This is all just a lullaby we're singing to keep ourselves asleep, as our empire slides away.

As long as we keep thinking that we're entitled to lead every burgeoning market because, dammit, we're America, were in for a serious asskicking.  As FSJ observes, we're much more interested in politicizing every issue and making it a red v. blue battle.  Bottom line is that so many Americans are afraid of change and in denial that our entitled lives might slip away to the Demon of the Future.  We can rally the troops, have morons like Beck and Limbaugh pine away over the airwaves to fight the onslaught of change and liberalism and socialism and anti-Christian "values," but it won't matter.  It won't matter at all, because change is happening whether we think it bodes well for our Escalades or not.

China and India are doing right now what we did back in the Industrial and IT revolutions.  They're looking at the fabric of future markets, correctly parsing global trends, hiring big brains, cutting to the chase of doing what it takes to lead the world markets in The Next Big Thing.  They're quietly setting themselves up to be the next global powerhouse, and while they certainly have their share of socio-political issues, they aren't fucking around at all with emerging markets.  They see the hole off-tackle, and they're hitting it like a freight train.

They will be the big players unless we can get out of our Norman Rockwell mindsets and realize that we need to get moving on these fledgling technologies and markets.  Where is the American know-how?  Where is the spirit?  Where is the insistence that we lead the world in science and innovation?

It's not here.  Not this time.  And that needs to change, or we'll be very uncomfortable in our role as second fiddle when these markets hit their stride.

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Philip Greenspun with an astute observation:

This evening’s New York Times was worrisome. An inset box showed that the S&P 500 had fallen 4.25 percent for the day, wiping out roughly a year of investment returns. A few months ago this would have been the top story. Today, however, it did not even make the front page. There were no articles talking about the collapse of the stock market unless you clicked into the “business” section. Investors in the U.S. economy being destroyed isn’t news anymore.

Number of times in 2008 that the S&P 500 closed up or down 5 percent in a single day: 17 Number of times between 1956 and 2007 it did this: 17

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It’s getting to the point where you don’t even want to check the headlines during the day.  In case you’re in that mode, let give you a quick glimpse of where we are:

AT&T lays off 12,000, or 4% of its workforce

Adobe to cut 600 jobs upon lower 4Q revenue reports

US Service industry contracts at record pace

and

Retailers see sales drop in dreary November

Gah.

Back to Little Big Planet.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw]

Sigh.  Reminds me of Schopenhauer:

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

I think we’re staring self-evident right in the eye these days.

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Andrew Sullivan remembers Obama's letter to Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson from March 22,2007:

We cannot sit on the sidelines while increasing numbers of American families face the risk of losing their homes. And while neither the government nor the private sector acting alone is capable of quickly balancing the important interests in widespread access to credit and responsible lending, both must act and act quickly... [A] consortium of industry-related service providers and public interest advocates may be able to bring quick and efficient relief to millions of at-risk homeowners and neighborhoods, even before Congress has had an opportunity to act. There is an opportunity here to bring different interests together in the best interests of American homeowners and the American economy. Please don't let this opportunity pass us by.

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Obama urges calm after House fails to pass bailout and the DJIA falls 777 points and credit markets look the threat of strangulation in the eye.

Sen. Barack Obama said that "it's important for the American public and the markets to stay calm" in the wake of a failed vote on a financial sector bailout bill this afternoon and strongly advocated for its approval, adding, "One of the messages I have to Congress is, get this done, Democrats. Republicans, step up to the plate."

[…]

He added: "Democrats and Republicans in Washington have a responsibility to make sure an emergency rescue package is put forward that can at least stop the immediate problems that we have."

Following the failed House vote, Obama aides said the Democratic nominee would travel to Washington to back the bailout bill if it comes to the Senate floor.

Reading a few forums this afternoon, it’s terrifying how many people don’t understand what this bailout means.  Yes, it’s ugly, and yes, it’s hardly a perfect solution, but it’s a far better solution than watching your savings dry up and credit lines get systematically closed.  Global markets run on credit, and when credit is dry, it affects everything.

The most shameful thing I’ve read all day is how a McCain aide is trying to blame Obama for the bailout failure, despite the fact that it was the Republican House members who were largely against the bill.  And saying that Obama didn’t state whether he supported the bill is (another) outright lie: both Obama and McCain urged the cautious passing of this bill.

And, for the record, no, I don’t like what Pelosi did either.  The final hours of this bill’s life are not the time for some vitriolic partisan speech that, allegedly, affected some members’ voting decision.  But seriously, fuck you if you’re holding the financial future of our nation in your hands and you let a speech change your conviction.  What the hell are you doing in Congress?

It saddens me that when we’re on the brink of economic disaster, some people can’t look past politics and blame and get to a proper solution that’s best for our country.  Everyone’s trying to protect his own interests.  We’re demonstrating that we’re a me economy to a sickening degree.

Fix our immediate problems, stabilize the markets, and then concentrate on heavy reform.  You can’t rebuild the ship when it’s sinking.

Our founding fathers would be disgusted.  I am disgusted.  Everyone should be disgusted who understands anything about how our markets work.  It’s all fun and games to see Bush and Paulson and his cronies take it up the ass, but it won’t be so funny when you can’t get a loan for anything and the very existence of your savings is threatened.

For just one second, put your feelings about the players aside and stop the bleeding.  Once that’s done, we can work on assigning blame and removing people from further involvement.  There will be hell to pay, just not now.

The greed I’m seeing is the hallmark of a nation in decline, not a proud people who have learned to overcome.

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Senator Bernie Sanders:

For years now, they’ve told us that we can’t afford—that the government providing healthcare to all people is just unimaginable; it can’t be done. We don’t have the money to rebuild our infrastructure. We don’t have the money to wipe out poverty. We can’t do it. But all of a sudden, yeah, we do have $700 billion for a bailout of Wall Street.

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