Apparently it’s a fallacy – ostriches don’t stick their heads in the sand.
Investment bankers frequently do, though, especially all the greedy ones who only cared about their end-of-year bonuses when they knew perfectly well that the credit crisis was on its way.
I am sitting here sipping a beer and thinking “Oh my goodness, this really could be as bad as the Great Depression” now that Lehman Bros has been forced to file for bankruptcy.
But the danger is that we’ll all forget about the even bigger threat to the global economy which is yes, you’ve guessed it, Peak Oil and climate change.
We’ll all be so grateful when the credit crisis is over that we’ll rush out and buy more garbage we don’t need, jet around the world once again, talk excitedly about emerging-market growth, and bang – the price of crude will be close to or above $150 a barrel again (not that current levels in the historical context are anything to cheer about).
Read the last chapter of David Strahan’s The Last Oil Shock to put the credit crisis in perspective (read the whole book, but the last chapter provides some practical ideas).
The survivors of the energy crisis over the next 20 years will be those who are the most energy efficient. So start growing your own vegetables, invest in energy saving in your home and for goodness sake, sell your SUV you self-indulgent idiot.
The value of your home, your shares and your pension might rebound once the credit crisis is over but in the long run, any investment in the conventional hydrocarbon-based economy seems to be fundamentally flawed.