Divine Comedy

In the inferno, Dante noted that the words "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" was craved onto the walls of the gates of hell. I will not get pretentious and act like I have read the entire epic volume but I do find those words to be of particular interest and they seem to fit in nicely in so many places. I feel like the US economy has entered Dante’s circles of hell and the outlook is bleek and getting bleeker by the minute. The stock market is down 800 points in three days, while the news circle is squeaking on and on about Sarah Palin. Just looking at yahoo today you will find the following head lines;

• Hedge funds batten down the hatches in turbulence- Reuters
• IMF head: worst of financial crisis may lie ahead- Reuters
• SEC issues rules against abusive short sales- Reuters
• Housing construction drops 6.2 percent to 17-year low- AP
• Morgan Stanley shares plunge 40%, Goldman sinks 20%, HBOS in takeover talks- AP
• Oil prices up after crude supplies fall sharply- AP
• Regulators gauging other banks' interests in WaMu- AP
• Lehman unloads its banking divisions to Barclays- AP
• When All Else Failed: Govt. Bails Out AIG to Avoid Catastrophe- Tech Ticker

Somewhere in there, there are geniuses are at work.