Real Estate, Pokémon Cards & the 2008 Crash: Borrowed Time
January 15, 2009
Economist Kevin Nguyen useful popular culture analogy to illustrate a real conversation with his teenage sibling about the US financial crisis, resonates with Bill Watterson’s lemonade stand financing illustrated through his characters, Calvin and Hobbes. This comic strip was produced from c. 1985-1995 showing Watterson’s incredible foresight as noted by tasgall. /
Nguyen, Kevin. 2008-10-01. “The Financial Crisis, as Explained to My Fourteen-Year-Old Sister.” >> The Bygone Bureau: a Journal of Modern Thought.
Watterson, Bill. 1985-1995. Calvin and Hobbes. http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2008/12/08 Requires login. http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes
This image is available on Flickr in andresrguez’s album.
Note: I am unsure of the copyright issues here. Bill Watterson has been producing the popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes since 1985. Calvin and Hobbes, his stuffed Tiger rarely discuss childish matters. Through their imaginary adventures they provide a fresh outlook on the world as it unfolds. The lemonade stand has been a brilliant vehicle for examining the world of finance. I am looking for a web 2.0 outlet for using this image while respecting Watterson’s copyrights.
Stumble it!
January 15, 2009 at 3:04 am
I recently featured Taleb speaking out in frustration against the economic and banking establishment, also joined by his mentor: Benoit Mandelbrot. They blame the present belief in naive risk models for failing to anticipate the coming crisis.
Their statements about rapid crashes have striking correspondence with Jared Diamond’s observations about societal collapse.