'Bank run' at Bear Stearns

This is scary, or at least sobering.

Fortunately, we have a large and diverse economy. An event of this size would have been big enough to cause real havoc back in, say, the '80's. As things stand, it's indicative of choppy waters still ahead, as the nation's economic problems continue to try and work themselves out.

Locally, though, Wall Street's current fix is unequivocally bad for Hoboken. The Street is what props up both housing prices and rentals. The last time rental rates dipped was in the aftermath of 9/11, when a big chunk of the Street quite literally vanished for a time.

Of course, there are more always headlines to be made by predicting calamity than by predicting relatively smooth sailing (as Sam Zell recently did). Zell's made his pile, but companies like NBER require headlines in order to find new clients.

NBER's former president Martin Feldstein has declared he United States has entered a recession that could be "substantially more severe" than recent ones. Such a prediction makes headlines, without potentially inconvenient specifics.

Not to imply anything, except that there are reasons to take analysts' 'predictions' with a grain of salt. Most of the time, these folks are in over their heads. As is usual with events like this, we recommend taking a reality check at Econbrowser.

RELATED: The BBC covers the Bear Stearns loan.

AND: Pointers to some good coverage here.

AND: This was no 'bailout', says Econbrowser.

AND FINALLY: If the price had gone any lower, we'd have bought the company ourselves.