Russia, seriously?

Ex (actually, "actual") President Vladimir Putin just announced that Russia will expand its offensive weaponry to balance out the US.

Seriously dude? You think that the US has any intentions on your frozen tundra while we're battling not 1, but 2 wars and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression? Not to mention, with Russia's current state, couldn't those funds be better used for social services?

Unbelievable.

TF On the Ball

I find myself agreeing with Thomas Friedman again and again. I think he once more has his finger on the pulse of what "should happen" in terms of alternative energy investment in the US. As he highlights in today's column, the Chinese are starting to throw the kitchen sink at green energy production and at our (the US') current relative speeds, we will soon be left far behind.

With all of the debate over the impending energy capping bill vote, which some say is too weak, and others say is too restrictive and will choke off job creation (doubtful because nearly every change in the way things are done has spurred massive innovation which leads to the creation of new industrial sectors), I am reminded of the boldness that America was once known as having to do "the impossible" as is highlighted in JFK's go to the moon speech. Where is this resolve right now?

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. "
- JFK, 1962

Is this the beginning?

Article in CNN about people switching to "green-collar" jobs. Is this the start of something new, or just a flash in the pan?

Leave it to Thomas Friedman

Leave it to Thomas Friedman to sum up the current state of the economy and our prospects for recovery in one sentence (from today's column):

"We have woven such a tangled financial mess with subprime mortgages wrapped in complex bonds and derivatives, pumped up with leverage, and then globalized to the far corners of the earth that, much as we want to think this will soon be over, that is highly unlikely."

- Thomas Friedman, 2/1/09

Great breakdown of the current economic situation

Here's a great snapshot of what the financial crisis has morphed into by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.

Another Perspective on today's Dow Action

Interesting article by Time magazine saying that even though the economic crisis is bad, the US is getting off pretty lightly.

A Hearty Welcome to The Land of Doom and Gloom

We set out on Friday night to Iceland. The trip wasn't that bad - only about 4.5 hours to get in. After making some party supply stops at the Duty Free, we were on a bus headed to Reykjavic by 7 AM in the morning or so.

We hit rush hour traffic, got to our hotel which is amazing, and then headed on a city tour. After viewing several areas that we cared about, and others that we didn't (like the Icelandic projects), we were introduced to the fatalism currently existing here. Although we knew how bad the economic situation is, the tour guide kept on highlighting the doom and gloom in everything we saw - building projects that no one knows when they'll be restarted, an exodus of foreign migrant workers, the fact that the usually lively streets were empty because no one wanted to walk around... This is ground zero for the credit crisis.

After all the gloomy discussion, we headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Economic Concern

Scene from the overflow in the Diebold lounge from a simulcasted panel being given in Sloan's biggest auditorium regarding the current economic crisis.

Second days are always better

After re-doing many Calculus derivatives problems over again after coming back from a late impromptu happy hour, I felt a lot more comfortable with Day 1 of pre-term. Today, things seemed a lot easier... Perhaps my math wheels have started turning. Probably, it was that a lot of the material covered today was either relevant from the news, or from my GMAT prep. I found myself in the position of explaining things to others... interesting.

Back to school

Yesterday was the first day of pre-term. I rolled in with very little sleep from still having cleaned up from last night's grill test run at 7:45, and from 8-3, was bombarded with Accounting, Calc, Econ, and Finance.

Good news - Econ knowledge ain't bad.

Bad news - I could hear the rust grating off in my brain as I attempted to do Calculus after several years.

I'll be back tomorrow morning at 8 for more.