A Worst-Case Scenario

Walter Russell Mead teaches foreign policy at Bard College - - on his blog from last week he lays out the worst-case scenario regarding our current global financial anxieties (the blog posting is Panic?).  The key issue to Mead is the survival of the international financial system over the next six months.

The comments to his blog from the general public are interesting.  The world is basically falling into two camps - - the "Guns and Gold" crowd and the "Sun Will Be Shinning Tomorrow" crowd.  Other comments are truly interesting alternatives to the standard discussions - - one person commented on the fact that for a country famous for its marketing and advertising abilities ("selling underwear to Adam and Eve"), we are dreadful at selling bold ideas that both political parties can embrace

Mead, David Brooks, Thomas Friedman - - really great writing and articles over the past six months.  But even better are the comments of people from all over the world to these articles - - our globally connected world allows comment and discussions - - some really bad writing and ideas, but some of it it very good.  It is also an excellent indicator - - is it "Panic" with a question mark, or is it "Panic" with a period.

It should also give people hope that the "Sun Will Be Shinning Tomorrow" given our enhanced abilities to communicate.  It will be interesting to see in the future if discussions and solutions get crafted in closed rooms by political elites or if the connected can formulate crowd sourced wiki-solutions to our more pressing issues and problems.