Larvatus Prodeo

Brendan and Malcolm have provided a nice little distraction, but it’s time to look at other world news: to wit, another US financial giant has hit the deck (two, if you count the takeover of Merrill Lynch as well as Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11). Is the rest of the world going to catch a cold from America sneezing, or will the strength of the BRIC economies keep the global economy relatively robust while only the US coughs its lungs out?

So many pollies and financial wonks with vested interests are telling us all not to panic (and that now is such a good time to place a buy order on the stock market now that everything’s heading for bargain prices, dontcha know) that the very uniformity is more than a little alarming. What insights do the eco-wonks have for the rest of us? Which pundits have the good oil and who are just mouthing platitudes? What the f*ck is going on?