There are certainly plenty of candidates for the 2008 Missed-by-a-Mile Financial Prediction Award, but Standard & Poor's Investment Policy Committee shouldn't have any trouble making the finals.

The May '08 issue of S&P's Trends and Projections lead article:  the "Committee believes that from economic, fundamental, technical, and historical perspectives, the worst of the recent equity price decline is likely over."  Toward the end of the article:  the "Committee is maintaining its year-end 2008 target of 1560."

The Library received this issue on June 11th; the S&P 500 on that date stood at 1335.49.  At time of writing today, the S&P 500 is 874.26.

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The respected philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein claimed that a coherent philosophical outlook could be put forward in the form of a book of jokes.  (An actual attempt to do this is Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar.  If you find the philosophy-via-jokes concept interesting or useful, you might also gravitate toward the same author's Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington, which has a political slant.)

That being said, what are we to make of the barrage of recession-related wit and humor that is hitting the Internet and the media?  Some of it is graphical, but most attempts to find some amusing verbal twist to otherwise catastrophic financial outcomes.  From this point of view, Bernie Madoff and late-night comedy were made for each other.  Restaurants answer the call with "stimulus brownies" and "recession burgers."

I choose to see these as signs of the resiliency and determination that ultimately will bring us to better, brighter days.  During the darkest days of the Civil War, Abe Lincoln was rebuked for his quips and funny stories.  He replied, "I laugh because I must not cry."

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U.S News & World Report has come out with a list of fifteen cutting-edge businesses that have an excellent chance to succeed in todays' gloomy economy.  They've stayed away from fads and flash-in-the-pan ventures.

For entrepreneurs, however, the present economic climate has peril as well as promise.  So U. S. News also details the five most overrated small-biz opportunities.  Are you surprised that contracting and restaurants make the list?  (Springfield, by the way, has roughly one restaurant for every 142 households.)

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