Ward on Words

WSJ covers the emerging green shoots of the economy - the unemployment rate is dropping, as are the new claims for unemployment. Kinda looking like THIS drop in unemployment is for real, not just the "fuzzy math" that comes by not counting people who've given up all hope of ever getting a job. Can it be that years after Ben Bernanke so optimistically groomed us for "green shoots," they're finally popping up at last?! Well, according to the WSJ, the Fed's not doing a jig just yet: "The Federal Reserve, charged with maintaining stable prices and maximum employment, has remained cautious." Strange to see such caution from an organization that proclaimed the arrival of [the false] spring back in March 2009...

Am reading Isaacson's bio of Jobs right now - it's one of those great, can't-put-down kind of reads, a fascinating glimpse into the life of a man whose inventions literally changed our lives. Concurrently, I've just read Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker review of the bio. And feel his characterization of Jobs as a "tweaker" is about as far off base as one could be. To prove his point, Gladwell takes us to England at the dawn of the Industrial Age, pondering why England proved to be the center of innovation at that time: