Badtux, the economics penguin, thinks a nest egg of gold is a bad idea. He points out that gold is only worth what some else is willing to give you in exchange for it.

The same can be said for stocks. If no one is interested in buying the stocks you own, they are worth nothing.

In an article on the drop in the stock market someone said, well, yeah, it tanked, but since 1985 it had gone up 8.4 %. True, but most of that increase occurred during the Clinton years, because since the summer of 2001 until this year, you would have made more money in a savings account paying 4% APR compounded monthly, and you wouldn’t have lost $500 bucks this week.

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In commenting on the OBAMA vs. CLINTON spat, Kevin Drum asks the obvious question:

…Basically, do you think the United States should, as a routine part of its foreign policy, say that it’s willing to talk to any country that’s willing to talk to us? That the mere act of talking isn’t a tacit capitulation to a rogue regime’s demands?

I sure think so, and not just for the obvious reason that talking can sometimes lead to actual results. The bigger reason is that if you talk routinely, then the mere act of talking isn’t a tacit capitulation to a rogue regime’s demands and can’t possibly be spun that way. It’s just something we do.

He’s right, this isn’t high school or a monarchy where deigning to notice someone’s existence is a boon. Nations should be talking to each other. That was the big lesson from the Cuban missile crisis and the reason the hot line was installed. Not talking is a good deal more dangerous than talking.

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