PALO ALTO, Calif. (CNN/Money) -
Times are tough, and not the tough kind of after-shock from Sept. 11, but tough as in the niggling, consistent, what-else-can-go-wrong variety.
It almost feels like the dire atmosphere in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", when every time you turned the page another train had crashed somewhere in a once-proud country.
Consider what will be all over the weekend's papers:
PRESIDENT DITCHES ECONOMIC TEAM You know times are tough when a president sends his Treasury secretary and top economic advisor packing. Most folks probably don't care about the machinations that made Paul O'Neill an unpopular secretary of the treasury or a poor partner for Wall Street.
What they'll see is a former CEO at Alcoa being given the boot and thanking the president for being given the privilege of serving "the nation during these challenging times." Sadly, that's about the best he can say after two years overseeing American economic policy.
The departure of Larry Lindsey as head of the National Economic Council, whose job is to advise the president on the economy, is even less relevant in the big picture. But Reuters said it nicely Friday, calling the twin resignations "a stunning one-two punch."
UNITED FLIES TOWARD BANKRUPTCY. This one hits home harder for some than others. It was one thing when a long-ailing Pan Am went bankrupt and then bust. Ditto for Eastern Airlines. And Continental. Twice. (See more.)
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But United carries about 20 percent of the country's traffic. It's got important hubs in Washington, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. And, shoot, I've got 240,000 miles stored up on that airline! But seriously, when a top company like United can't cut it anymore, folks who are already jittery get more so.
JOBLESS RATE THE HIGHEST IN EIGHT YEARS. The jobs report hurts doubly because economists actually had been expecting the data to go the other direction. And in the way these things work, the figures could yet be revised. But the employment declines, especially in the basic manufacturing segment, bode ill for an economic recovery. The next spate of stories you're going to see will be about how this will be the third consecutive down year for the market, something few people alive have witnessed.
I found this last headline especially troubling:
KELLOGG RECALLS POP-TARTS. This is when you know things are getting more than a little out of hand. I mean, you understand it when Acura recalls a defective ignition switch, right? But how do eggs mysteriously seep into 730,000 packages of Pop-Tarts, putting at risk people with egg allergies?
It's a scary world out there.
Adam Lashinsky is a senior writer for Fortune magazine. Send e-mail to Adam at lashinskysbottomline@yahoo.com.
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