Credit crisis

As I write, the market is staging a mini-comeback from yesterday's debacle. The inter-bank loan rate has tightened up though, so I guess there's still a chance that we may all end up driving to California in a Model T to pick grapes.

On a more macro level, I see that the dollar has gained against the pound and that US Treasury 30-year notes took a substantial gain yesterday. Continued asinine government intervention may well derail us yet, but I'm hopeful that these macro signs indicate that the dollar's value will stay reasonably strong.

Given this stabilization in the markets, I hope that Congress and Secretary Paulson take some more time to hammer out a deal that the world is going to have to live with for decades to come. Beyond any bailout, I'd like to see a plan that addresses the underlying issues that created the bubble. The particulars of any plan are likely less important than whether the plan succeeds in rebuilding market confidence. A robust regulatory framework that assures the general public that this won't happen again is also crucial, but I'm much less sanguine about Congress' ability to agree on goals for such a regulator, never mind actually building a new agency or division from scratch.

In short, for those of us pursuing startups, I think it's reasonable to expect that the credit crunch is going to fuel a venture crunch in which money becomes even harder to come by.

Yelling about marketing

Hello. How are you? Welcome to yelling about marketing, where I guess I won't be doing any actual yelling. Instead, I'm going to write about marketing, post links to news items, and generally refrain from abusing my friends email accounts with these things. Now they can pretend they read my blog and everyone's a winner. Everyone.

So, welcome to my blog. Hello to friends, surfers, Mom, and other assorted folks. Hello to the first fifty people who read this. Stop by and say hello. I'll even wave back.

Person 51? I'm happy you're here and all, but I will probably have gone back inside by then.