Thoughts From the Crisis

1. I spent all of Monday in crisis management mode, dealing with issues that I had never seen before in 22 years in this market. I was wiped. Tuesday morning, on the train ride in, I was reading the Wall Street Journal (as is my wont). Sitting next to me was a businessman who was also reading the Journal. As we pulled into Penn Station, I folded up the paper and let out a bigh sigh. My neighbor looked at me, nodded, and smiled.

2. Yesterday morning after shul I returned to the house to get my train pass which I had forgotten on the kitchen counter. When I arrived, the Toddler was up, very happy to see her Abba. Alas, after two minutes, it was time, once again, to go.

TT asked me where I was going. I said, "I have to go to the jungle". She looked at me with a curious smile. "Abba's going to the Jungle?" I said, It's not a real jungle, but it's like a jungle." TT repeated, "Abba's going to the jungle, Abba's going to the jungle!" I could tell by her look that TT thought her Abba was very strange.

3. Yesterday afternoon, in one of the few free moments I had, I emailed my brother and sister with the subject line, "No Words". My brother email backed, "No attachment either". I replied, "There is no attachment".

4. It is appalling, no, beyond appalling, to realize how unprepared both Obama and McCain are to deal with the financial crisis. They are both making jackasses out of themselves on the campaign trail. They should just both shut up. One can only hope that whoever wins will delegate authority for handling the situation to someone who knows what a credit default swap is.