In this modern age, we tell ourselves we can process information faster than, say, our parents or the people who sat at our desks in the early 1990s. But what if we are processing information and responding to events too quickly?

The current crisis has brought us an unprecidented role of federal government in private banking. In the US, the Fed is pumping in funds to keep the markets afloat and it is now the majority stake owner of formerly private enterprises. Likewise, goverments in Europe are taking over portions of private banks and guaranteeing loans in order to avoid panic and a further crash. One wonders if we are over-reacting.

In Amity Shlaes' magisterial overview of the Great Depression entitled The Forgotten Man, she argues that some of FDR's steps to solve the financial crisis were not only unconstitutional, they were heavy-handed and random. One scene showed FDR setting the price of gold at 21 cents. Why that particular number? FDR said that since seven is a lucky number then three times that number is 21.

Who ever writes the great book of the Crash of 08 might have stories just as absurd and bewildering.