More on Yesterday's Stock Hiccup

Yesterday I commented on the lack of attention folks in my (quick, which hat am I wearing today?) Web 2.0 industry gave to stock market troubles. Yes, sometimes it's great to discuss the latest spat between Sequoia Capital and ComVentures, but wouldn't you have expected VentureBeat to make mention of the 400 point decline? After my little rant yesterday -- and this VentBox vent -- Michael Galpert asked, "but what can we do about it?" You know, it's a good point, but what can we in the blog-o-world do but analyze and discuss (and debate which "vlogger" is the "hottest vlogger).

So I point to you this article by Salon.com's most excellent "How The World Works" writer, Andrew Leonard. In the article (it's nice and short by the way, so read it), Andrew asks "Should we blame Greenspan or China?" and clearly explains, as he always does, the complexities of what happened yesterday and which factors matter going forward. Best of all, his conclusion, which I'll provide an excerpt of here:

So when Shanghai sneezes, the world's markets catch the bird flu? True or not, the fact that this story is even being told is testament to how far and how fast China has come [since the Asian financial crisis of 1997]. . . The fact that on Wednesday the Shanghai stock exchange, so far, is keeping its cool could well be the single most significant data point in all the market madness racing around the globe over the past 24 hours.

From: CAPTION: How the World Works Logo