(By Mark Morford)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/12/10/notes121008.DTL&nl=fixBaby, you gotta take it all in.
Firstly, the dark side. Plethoric and astounding are the horrors and miseries, twists and swings of a brutal recession, a nation in fiscal calamity. Job losses in the millions. Highest unemployment rate since the Plague. Retail in a tailspin. Retirement accounts gutted, portfolios evaporated, housing bubble now just a sad little puddle on the floor of your gleaming Formica dreams.
And then, the scenes. Shell-shocked stockbrokers holding their faces in their hands, choking back screams, like Edvard Munch with big holdings in Washington Mutual. GM stock as valuable as an old pack of gum. Desperate shoppers stomping each other to death at Black Friday sales to save eight bucks on a 29-dollar DVD player that will break roughly four minutes into the third time it plays that "Fred Claus" DVD bought for two bucks at the dollar store. Fun for the whole family.
Then again, it ain't all bad, is it? Bright sides are emerging. Upsides matter. They're just a bit, how do you say, "challenging" to see. ...