Back in January 1988, a presidential task force headed by Nicholas Brady announced its conclusions about the stock market crash of the previous October. The Brady Commission blamed automated computer trading.
The report seems almost quaint at a distance of 24 years as does the trading technology then on the cutting edge.
But it was part of Brady's own journey. He became Treasury Secretary before the year was out. The elder Bush, who of course became President about a year after publication of this report, kept him on in that job, and he stayed until 1993, in the process helping defuse the great sovereign-debt crisis of his day with the creation of "Brady Bonds."
Okay, this was a random trip down memory lane. Now return to your regularly scheduled activities.
Showing posts with label George H.W. Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George H.W. Bush. Show all posts
08 January 2012
05 November 2011
"Points of light"
I've just been skimming, for no especially good reason, through a conspiratorialist book written in the late 1980s.
You may remember the late 1980s. The elder Bush in the White House.
Conspiracy theorists of course typically seize on whatever is in the headlines and spin it into a freemason plot or whatever. When those things drop out of the headlines, these writings can become dated quickly.
Thus, the conspiracy book in qustion diud what it could with the expression "a thousand points of light" used by George H.W. Bush in his campaign in 1988. Aha! similar expressions were used by Masons and Illuminati and so forth. It's all part of the "New Age New World Order"!
Yes, except, a "point of light" is a quite common expression, likely to have occurred to anyone who has ever looked at the night sky. Not evidence of any link except that we all do live under the night sky.
Phony pointless expressions of erudition don't make for understanding. Oops, I just used the word "point" as a metaphor didn't I? I guess the jig is up.
You may remember the late 1980s. The elder Bush in the White House.
Conspiracy theorists of course typically seize on whatever is in the headlines and spin it into a freemason plot or whatever. When those things drop out of the headlines, these writings can become dated quickly.
Thus, the conspiracy book in qustion diud what it could with the expression "a thousand points of light" used by George H.W. Bush in his campaign in 1988. Aha! similar expressions were used by Masons and Illuminati and so forth. It's all part of the "New Age New World Order"!
Yes, except, a "point of light" is a quite common expression, likely to have occurred to anyone who has ever looked at the night sky. Not evidence of any link except that we all do live under the night sky.
Phony pointless expressions of erudition don't make for understanding. Oops, I just used the word "point" as a metaphor didn't I? I guess the jig is up.
09 November 2008
A passage from Updike
I'm leafing today for no good reason through the Updike novel SEEK MY FACE (2002). The action of the novel consists entirely of a day-long interview. The only two characters, then, in the novel's present tense are an elderly artist, Hope, and a young reporter.
In this passage, about one-quarter of the way into the book, Hope is showing Kathryn her studio.
"Photographs of herself with others in other times goingback to Ardmore in the 'twenties, framed certificates of graduation and commendation ... the hideous trophies of crystal and painted metal one gets as tokens of recognition and public gratitude (the most ungainly of them handed to her sheepishly by the first President Bush, a tall and boyish Connecticut gent apparently as pleasantly surprised to find himself in the White House as she was; at lunch afterward, seated beside her, he pointed out for Hope to admire the daily flowers, the elegantly clad Marine guards, the splendidly imposing punctilio which momentarily surrounded them, two proper children of the fading Protestant hegemony): these souvenirs, still in the hasty order of an afternoon's arranging when the studio was newly built, attract Kathryn's attention less than Hope exected. Only the old photographs tempt the interloper to move closer, her neck craned forward in that unbecoming way: 'How pretty you were.'"
I love that. But in my lazy-Sunday fashion, I won't bother enumerating why.
In this passage, about one-quarter of the way into the book, Hope is showing Kathryn her studio.
"Photographs of herself with others in other times goingback to Ardmore in the 'twenties, framed certificates of graduation and commendation ... the hideous trophies of crystal and painted metal one gets as tokens of recognition and public gratitude (the most ungainly of them handed to her sheepishly by the first President Bush, a tall and boyish Connecticut gent apparently as pleasantly surprised to find himself in the White House as she was; at lunch afterward, seated beside her, he pointed out for Hope to admire the daily flowers, the elegantly clad Marine guards, the splendidly imposing punctilio which momentarily surrounded them, two proper children of the fading Protestant hegemony): these souvenirs, still in the hasty order of an afternoon's arranging when the studio was newly built, attract Kathryn's attention less than Hope exected. Only the old photographs tempt the interloper to move closer, her neck craned forward in that unbecoming way: 'How pretty you were.'"
I love that. But in my lazy-Sunday fashion, I won't bother enumerating why.
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