What Caught My Eye Today

Economy - Usually I throw random stories of interest into a bucket I affectionately like to call "Potpourri," but with the global economy in a tailspin, it seems even the random stories are related to the economy. So with that I give you "Potpourri - the Economy Edition"

• The global financial crisis will add at least 20 million people to the world's unemployed, bringing the global total to 210 million. That sounds like a lot (and well, it is) but, given that the global population is 6,700,000,000, we're basically talking about and unemployment rate of just over 3.1%. Not bad considering the U.S. unemployment rate almost double that at 6.1%
• In 2007, Wall Street's five biggest firms--Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley--paid out $39 billion in employee bonuses; their shareholders lost $74 billion over the same period. And if you are keeping score, none of these firms exists now; sadly, the shareholder losses still do.
• The financial slowdown has hit the art market. The most recent auctions of contemporary art at Sotheby's and Christie's brought in $93.4 million, well below the pre-sale estimates of $204 million. Now, now. Let's not arbitrarily blame the economy for this one. I can think of at least one other reason why the auction dollars were off--the art was bad. Hey, sometimes it happens.

2008 Presidential Race - Here is a proverbial "slap across the face" as big as I've ever seen. Russia this week formally rejected a request for funds from John McCain's presidential campaign. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations received a campaign mailer at his New York City residence addressed to "Dear Friend" and asking for a contribution to defeat Barack Obama. He responded by releasing an official statement declaring that Russia never finances political activity in foreign countries. Going public with the matter was seen as Russia's way of chiding McCain, a harsh critic of Russian policy. So like does this qualify as an international incident, or what? I guess it must have been a slow week for the Russian ambassador. I don't know about you, but usually when I get a campaign mailer, I find it easier just tossing it in the recycling bin, but that's just me.

India - My first reaction to this story was that these dudes were just being mean, then it occurred to me that they might actually be onto something here. Indians are flocking to a Bollywood musical about work in a call center that depicts young, hip Indians patiently giving technical assistance to imbecilic American callers. See what I mean? Mean, but probably based on real-life encounters. In one scene an American caller had taken the top off an oven in order to fit a large dish inside, and can't understand why the oven didn't work anymore. Okay, I'm sure they took some liberties with that call, but I can see that happening with one possible exception. Most ovens that I've encountered tend to have oven door that open from the front, so I'm having a hard time visualizing how someone takes the top off an oven. Then again, I'm just another imbecilic American, so what do I know.