The Breakfast Table

Crash, He Said

Paula–

Poor Jerry; stuck in his Central Park West apartment with his few hundred millions.

Since we last exchanged e-mails, the Dow has hit 11,000. There is a surreal quality to the CNN Web site. Pictures of war side by side with a splashy balloon celebrating the unstoppable Dow. I must confess to being quite perplexed by the Teflon market. If the data (strong growth) are good, the market goes up because the economy is robust. If the data are weak (low growth in some sector), it goes up because it means inflation is unlikely to rear its ugly head. If we’re at peace it booms; if we’re at war it surges. “Crash Dammit!” was the cover of the Economist one year, and 2,000 points, ago! My only consolation is that almost everybody–including Warren Buffett and Alan Greenspan–seems as befuddled.

The FT has an interesting story about how Asian governments are not buying the euro because it seems wimpy. Nothing about Richard Gere. His efforts are languishing in obscurity–save for the brave New York Post.