Interesting times

Just for fun, for the sake of looking back, I thought I'd throw in some of the current considerations going on in the world around us:

• Economically, $100 invested in the US on 12/31/07 is currently worth $53. It could be worse: in Britain that same investment is now worth $45, in Russia $23, in Iceland $3.
• Bernie Madoff, the current Ponzi-Scheme king, has been joined on stage by a guy from Texas named Robert Allen Stanford. Stanford didn't steal as much - only $8 billion - but he rates a slot on the NPR news cycle and the NY Times front page all week.
• Jade Goody, a British woman who has spent her entire adult life becoming famous for becoming famous (via reality shows like Big Brother) has galvanized the entire British population. She was diagnosed with cancer last year and has been living out her treatment, her treatment failures, and her approach to death all on camera. She's getting married next week (her groom was just let out of prison) and will honeymoon at one of Elton John's palaces.
• US car manufacturers are at the edge of a cliff. We may be mourning the end of the Pontiac line of cars. No GTOs for the girls when they grow up.
• The newspapers' front page features articles about long lines at food banks across the country.
• North Korea and Iran continue to make threats that they are developing nuclear weapons. Hilary Clinton travels to Indonesia today to begin a new dialogue between the West and the Muslim worlds.
• Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to be the next prime minister of Irael. That worked so well before.
• The California legislature has finally agreed on a budget, so the entire state is not going to go bankrupt (yet).

The proverbial Chinese curse seems on target: may you live in interesting times.