Completely unplugging from economic and political news feeds has probably been the best thing I've done for my level of confidence and level of day-to-day stress. According to news organizations, as Altucher points out, the world has been ending for the past 100 years, there's danger lurking behind every corner, and every day that you survive without being struck by some catastrophe, personal or general, is no more than sheer luck, because sooner or later you're going to get the bird flu and die or your country will go bankrupt, or this or that bubble will pop and you will be forced to live a poverty-laden life, and so on and so on.<p>Everything will be alright, there will be ups and downs, but we'll get through them all the same.
Is Mr. Altucher always this breezily dismissive of opposing views?<p>Yes, we've strung together a some positive numbers. But I don't see anything in his work-up on leverage levels, housing prices, or the possibility that growth to 2007 was hyperinflated. Nor anything that the current numeric improvements are generated by unsustainable fiscal and monetary policies. Greece is significant not for its own significance but the question of just how edge its particular case is or isn't.<p>Now maybe he's right about the overall direction. But there are excellent reasons to think we may be on the edge of turning a number of long-term trends and deeply embedded assumptions. If you're going to declare that the attention to Greece is simply a matter of hype to sell stories, and the Kardashians are more interesting -- well, yes, some people will find that annoying.
"<i>...once you can ignore all of these distractions you will have the time to start a business and get rich..."</i><p>This is my take away. This goes for all forms of distraction, be it main stream media, World of Warcraft, or How I Met Your Mother. If you're having trouble getting things done, stop consuming and start creating.
I believe James is right on several points: especially when it comes to news, fear sells <i>a lot</i>.<p>Regarding Greece, a default would be more a political problem rather than an economical one: European Union is a loosely tied bunch of states with conflicting interests such shock could shake them apart even further.
i gave up on watching/reading the traditional news outlets years ago, which today seem more like the yellow journalism of days past. I prefer to read news from slightly more factual, and less sensational, outlets like Reuters and BBC. Note that I said "slightly" so a large grain of salt is still required, and the bullshit filter still needs to be turned on. And don't get me started on HuffPO.
"I was right, random Internet trolls were wrong. I demand an apology. Now look how smart I am". I guess writing a story on how the economy is improving isn't sexy enough by itself.
The only place I get my economic news from nowadays is the Planet Money podcast. They vastly more interesting and insightful than the mainstream financial news, they approach everything in an investigative manner, and they don't try to force a story into existence.<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=94411890" rel="nofollow">http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=944...</a>