Tim O’Reilly (like me, as you’ll see below) seems to believe we’re in a bit of a bubble that’s set to burst, even though, as he walked in to deliver his keynote at the Web 2.0 conference, the stock markets were in the middle of a rebound, vaulting up about 7% in a 26-hour period. Notwithstanding the current stampede to the entrance, if you will, brought about by federal governments pumping hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of liquidity into the system — and a ban on short-selling all 799 financial stocks tradeable on the U.S. markets — it’s a fair bet that we’re in for tough economic times.
O’Reilly noted that a financial bubble seems to go hand in hand with a “reality bubble.” When the best and the brightest are working on sheep-throwing apps and “iBeer,” isn’t there something wrong with our priorities? Maybe that’s a separate discussion. But when either bubble bursts, chances are we will see our priorities more clearly.
More: continued here
