Hello reader. Let me describe for you what has inspired me to create this blog. I currently work in the financial service industry, under a license to a particular organization and therefore must remain anonymous. During the past two years, I grew more and more concerned about the economy I was observing from my office. I felt alone in my concerns since there was almost no visible sign of concern from most corners in my industry. The companies with huge financial stakes seemed to be missing in action, making no effort at describing their economic perspective in any manner that I could support. There is now, was then, and always has been the same old story of keeping "a long-term perspective" and ride this out. The firm I work with was in this group. I shared my observations with a friend/colleague who I respect a lot for his business sense and economic awareness. We discovered that we were both of the same mind and were relieved to find this out. We agreed that these times are not ordinary times, for example just another business cycle. We believed we were watching the beginning of an economic crisis developing, a perfect financial storm. We quickly decided to meet more often and discuss the results of our mutually independent research. As a result of this collaboration, when the credit crisis mushroomed in September 2008, I was already somewhat better positioned than most of my peers were. I was also much quicker to offer recommendations to move from investments into cash, at substantial sacrifice to my gross income for most of 2009. This did not help me manage my panic at the daily occurrences in the financial markets. But what could?