Good morning from Honolulu

We're in Honolulu for a few days, visiting our son and doing some business-related stuff. I snapped this photo (using my new iPhone) about 20 minutes ago from his window looking West—a magnificent rainbow. I thought this would make a nice contrast to the gloom that has once again descended on the markets. It's also a reminder that even as hundreds of billions of debt gets wiped out on the other side of the planet, life still goes on everywhere. The buildings don't disappear, and people keep going to work every day. The U.S. economy is growing. There are all sorts of problems in the world, but chances are good they will get resolved one way or the other without plunging the world into another Dark Age. Billions of free people working in free markets have a remarkable capacity to withstand adversity and overcome seemingly impossible obstacles.

Next week we'll be in Maui for a family reunion, a present to ourselves for having made it through 40 years of married life and having raised four wonderful children. Lots to look forward to, so blogging may be on the light side for awhile.