We're Doomed, Doomed!

I'm sure you've all heard by now that the gears of our economy are about to grind to a halt, and soon us New Yorkers will have to hunt pigeons for sustenance. (They should, at any rate, last a while.) I was sitting in a bar in Park Slope today where, as the bartender put it, they had on, "a 90210 rerun, the White Sox game, and the End of the World".

Now, having a rent I can afford and, hopefully, being very close to selling my Rhode Island house may make me a little less panicky than if I was more maxed out, but I have to say that this bailout hysteria is getting a little ridiculous. Some people are going to go through hard times, and decent people should do whatever they can to help. But constantly trying to bail out the economy with more and more desperate measures is just going to kick the can down the road until the problem is too big to fix. We've forgotten that hard times happen every once in a while, and you just have to muddle through and do your best to come through it stronger and smarter.

But for those of you who can't stop watching your rapidly diminishing 401k balance, may I recommend having a happy hour drink at the Lighthouse Bar on 5th Avenue in Brooklyn. And try to focus on the TV with the game or the dated teen drama.