The Keepers of Realism in Fantasyland

Josh Marshall underscores the disconnect between media talking heads and financial crisis. I laughed out loud when the journalist told the economists that he is "accosted at cocktail parties" (that's right: cocktail parties!!) for investment advice, and asks them what he can tell his accosters. That the journalist would attempt to move them away from the brutal facts of the economic crisis to "constructive" and "actionable" stock tips for investors is truly ironic. Again, the reality he's keeping is that of elite cocktail parties where the movers and shakers magically conjure wisdom on how to get out in front financially and refuse to listen to any doomsday scenarios. Most of the rest of the doldrummed world will not operate according to cocktail-party logic.