31 Days to Total Financial Hell - Gas Up Now!

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeA friend of mine manages a multi-million dollar fund and sometimes I think he is afraid to admit the truth to himself. Days like today wring him out like a dishrag. We have previously discussed what happens when days like today happen. What happens when you get two in a row? Three? Five? After five days, other feedback loops might kick in because that is a 2000 point loss in 5 days, other fears and factors are put in the mix which all put downward pressure on the market. A clip from today's disaster: Stocks tanked Friday, with the Dow industrials shedding 395 points, after oil prices spiked more than $11 a barrel and the May jobs report showed a big jump in the unemployment rate. Bond prices surged, as investors sought safety in government debt, while the dollar tumbled versus the yen and euro. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 395 points, or 3.1%, its biggest one-day decline on both a point and percentage basis since February of 2007, at the start of the subprime mortgage crisis. My friend was unwilling to speculate when you are faced with more than a week of downturns. Other than "full economic collapse" you can't really project how bad it will be. I see these guys on CNBC still reading rosy days ahead in their financial tea leaves so I did the math. With a drop like today's, you only need 31 in a row for the Dow to hit zero. With so much of the government in debt, I don't think a collapse will be a pretty picture. SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville. I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?) This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America. So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter. candorcomment@sfchronicle.com or David Wiegand Executive Datebook Editor The San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103