Last Run: Converters Brave Rough Economic Waters

The world of 2009 is quite different from what it was 20 or 30 years ago, or even five to 10 years ago. We now live in a world of instant and continuous communication. Whether from the Internet, television, a Blackberry, or iPod, we get news in seconds and there are whole industries dedicated to providing news 24/7. In our current economic environment, the instant knowledge of every layoff, minute-by-minute scrutiny of the stock market, and hours of in-depth analysis of every possible financial statistic have led to a flood of bad news that started with the subprime mortgage collapse and has made the average consumer afraid to spend. Add to that an increase in the price of a gallon of gas (at the end of last year), the rapid drop in retirement account values, plus a presidential election where most of the rhetoric centered on how bad everything is, and you get a “perfect storm” of financial fear.