Rough path...

It seems indeed a rough path when looking at the DJ index of the past months... But it also seems that we have already gone through the worst. And yet The Economist was saying today that the road ahead is long and dark. Indeed most numbers apparently suggest that the worst is over only in the sense that the path down to recession has slowed down. But it's still going down.

I liked these simple numbers, that quietly calm down the optimists:

Between 1929 and 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by more than 20% four times, only to fall back below its previous lows. Today’s crisis has seen five separate rallies in which share prices rose more than 10% only to subside again.

Well well, we'll see. In the meantime we shall bury our head in the ground as ostriches wisely do. Because although the global economy might get a brighter look by the end of this year, for what matters to the actual people (we, the people) unemployment is still rising, big times. GM just announced that it might close it's factories for 9 weeks this summer, while it has until June to decide what part of the production will be shut down for real so GM can get a new bailout for its healthy half. It won't be fun for American workers this summer.