FTSE Collapses. Life goes on, Sideways
Not many laughs today, but maybe there is hope. The credit crunch has turned into the single most catastrophic financial/business/economic disaster in the history of mankind, etc. HSBC laid off 500 people this week. Citigroup announced that they would shed a further 50,000 on top of the 25,000 job loses already announced this year. The Tory London Mayor is talking about an urgent £5billion injection into social housing to get the economy moving. The Chancellor will announce tax cuts tomorrow and new spending/borrowing plans of a scale that would make Margaret Thatcher weep. Oil was $150 six months ago just fell to under $50 today and the FTSE is worth less than it was six years ago, or something...
Amidst all of this, we get a note from one of our best friends. He is getting married in California in March 2009 to a beautiful girl. The invite includes a pre-wedding wine tour warm up, “Sideways” style. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy and amidst the gloom, he couldn’t have come up with a more perfect idea for getting the wedding party to bond. If you have not seen it, in Sideways...well, I could never do it justice. As a taster, check out below (and these were the bits they cut out of the finished version...) Enjoy.