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...bring you a message of hope! GEEZE! I have to say it's getting a little annoying how CNN is reporting on the stock market.

"DOW reaches a new twelve year low today. Wait...nope, now is its lowest in twelve years, wait, NOW...now...now...no, NOW."

I get it, it's low. Fortunately, this market has done wonderful things for my popularity at social functions. Although I am getting a little cynical. Conversation:

Partygoer: "What do you do for work?"
Me: "I'm a greedy bonus-mongering private equity investment guy."
PG: Blank stare
PG: "Um, how would YOU fix this mess."
Me: "The way I figure it, the wealthiest people in the world right now are the Somali pirates. I think they should apply for Bank Holding Status and expand operations with money they receive from TARP. Since the government isn't asking any questions, I figure they could get to $20 billion or so with TARP money, plus whatever they get through routine plundering. At traditional 30:1 ratios, they could lend up to $600 billion (USD) to help stimulate the economy. The pirates that get sea-sick can go work on Wall St."
PG: Silence. "Did you see how low the DOW was today?"

On a different matter, I love talking to venture capitalists. They are the only ones that aren't afraid to say they are going to "change the world." I grin like a giddy school boy when they say it and I can never figure out why. Maybe it's because, subconsciously, I know some have actually already done it. Venture capitalists are behind some of the biggest game changing technologies like, Apple, Google, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, Skype, Twitter, Cisco, MySpace, and Facebook. That's not even including the VC's who are working on advanced biotechnology and Life Science projects that will synthetically replicate human organs without the chance of rejection. I suppose I like talking to them because they're not depressed like the rest of us--they still dream. Here's one of the premier VC's in the world, Steve Jurvetson, of Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson, talking about his love of rockets. Incidentally, my son loves this clip.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steve_jurvetson_on_model_rocketry.html