Let me give you a glimpse of the pervading feeling here in the city this morning: Fear. While no one in the financial community expected a rebound on Wall Street, neither did anyone expect the market to drop in the 9,000 range. Coffee shops are abuzz with gloom; people are opening assessing their retirements; Christmas shopping (they won't be spending as much this year as last); and the yearly vacation plans (many are saying they will stay at home, both over the holidays and during the summer).

Interestingly, talk about the economy has driven to ground both talk about politics and talk about crime. And as you could imagine, here in New York, we have a a lot of crime. Seriously, you can't imagine how much crime we have here. Drug crime, domestic crime, violent crime, organized crime (and few wish to discuss this), white-collar crime. Here in The City, somebody is forever doing something bad to somebody else. It seems just to be the way of things, and it makes the days goddamned interesting, if you want to know the truth about it. The number of killings, purse snatchings, muggings, heists, shootings, knifings, and subway rip-and-runs never fail to put a smile on my face. Of course, the size of the rats in the subways never fail to take that smile right back off my face -- which is why I prefer cabs to the subways. Anyway, this is an interesting place to live even if one does, from time to time, walk through urine puddles and blood droplets. Ah, and where is Batman when you need him (the lousy fuck is probably off somewhere stoned on crack and feeling up a cute little ten year old)?! Well, see ya!

Why is it that the poor always expect the more fortunate of people to help the less-fortunate out? What, do the poor expect that failure is to be rewarded with handouts, or do the poor expect that their failings should be pitied, first, and then rewarded with a financial pat on the back. Folks, that just isn't the way it works. And for what it is worth, the poor are poor because of decisions (and the consequences of those decisions) made long before the onrush of poverty. It is nice to think of poverty as a 'cycle.' However, the so-called cycle of poverty can be broken by education and self-discipline, as well as by hard work. Two things that will nob break the hold of poverty are grousing and finger-pointing.

Are we any better off now that we have set aside 700 billion dollars to be used by Wall Street? Most of those who know the Street best say "NO." These pundits say the problem now, as previously, is with the Loans Markets (those short-term loans and the lenders who provide them), not with the stock and bond markets, which are the staples of Wall Street.

In any case, here in New York City, the fear is as real as Fifth Avenue, and everywhere you stroll talk of doom and high finance resonate in the fall air. However, though a Recession is oft-mentioned (and many are they here who think the nation is already in a Recesssion) nowhere, except on television, do I hear the dreaded Depression mentioned. So perhaps we can take heart in that. And let me also share this with you: Wall Street doesn't have a lot of confidence in Barrack Obama -- but neither does the Street have confidence in John McCain. Looks like, folks, these next four years are going to be rough, because none of the smart brokers figure this Recession will let up any time soon.

This is the Dark Prince, and I am sharing with you some of the vibes from here in the great city of New York. Later, Folks.

Life is but a moment of consciousness set between two eternities of non-being? (Hint: He authored Lolita.)

Obtuse. Obstruse. Does anyone care to hear the Truth?