Fec quotes Krugman Jim Collins who essentially said that the second half of the 20th century was abnormally stable thanks to having two superpowers keeping the world in constant, tense balance.  That means that our current state of global economic instability is more normal than the relatively stable late 20th century. However it's what Fec wrote himself that I really enjoyed:

In my case, it’s normal that what few businesses remain choose to outsource their IT functions. For that, I blame Microsoft. OTOH, my best client, who chose to embrace MS, is in their back yards eating their lunch. This leads me back to my original thought: leaving IT problems to someone else is an act of immaturity and evidences itself in other aspects of a business.

It’s normal that manufacturing has gone overseas. For that, I blame our various governments. The founders of Home Depot said some time ago that creating such a business under current regulations would be impossible.

It’s normal that I spend nearly all my income paying for one kind of insurance or another. For that, I blame lawyers and runaway juries.

It’s normal that the banks have done what banks do and are having to pay for it. Scratch that – we have to pay for it.

Finally, it’s quite normal that we’ve elected another charismatic pol and have unrealistic expectations. So long as the above mentioned offenders have lobbyists, one man, no matter how great, can make not a whit of difference.

Anyone else noticed that lobbyists have become the most reviled people in America with the exception of politicians?  Have you also noticed that many lobbyists and politicians start out as lawyers?  Coincidence?