Foreign Correspondence

[fuagf]

It's a long while since we played dominoes, and neither of us remembers much about the rules, but it has been interesting to see commentators polish up the Vietnam-era metaphor of the 'Domino Effect' to describe what has been happening in financial markets in recent weeks. Turn to Wikipedia to find a definition of the Domino Effect, and it suggests that it is "a simple chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_Effect

This suggests a flaw in the metaphor as currently used: the financial crisis—and several other challenges we now face—are non-linear. Maybe the appropriate metaphor for the moment lies in Chaos Theory instead. Relying on Wikipedia again, we are reminded that while the behavior of chaotic systems appears to be random, their dynamics are “fully defined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

How close are we to understanding the ‘initial conditions’ of the recent chaos in
global financial markets? And what lessons can we draw from it for the sustainability agenda?
http://www.sustainability.com/researchandadvocacy/columns_article.asp?id=1579

nope, dominoes are all the same .. while we aren't .. it's just globalization ..
interconnectivity .. shysters and murderers and warmongers and lying
shits .. that's all, it's easy .. dominoes all look the same, none feel, and
they all fall the same .. we do things differently .. just thought of that,
never was attracted to domino theories, maybe that's why
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=28529215

Indymac, Wamu, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Merrill Lynch did not all fall the same.