magoo finance

17Sep07

I can’t resist ploughing the same northern, rocky furrow two posts in a row. The beleaguered mortgage bank’s wipe-out in the credit crunch has called to mind one of my favourite cartoon characters, Mr Quincy Magoo. Northern Rock CEO Adam Applegarth again appeared on serious radio this morning to reiterate that nothing was wrong, and it was business as usual. Except that business at a bank does not normally involve thousands of people queuing outside each branch every morning wanting their money back. They say upwards of £2 billion has so far been withdrawn in two days. I’m guessing Magoo’s interpretation would also have been that business was booming!

The serious point here is that for all but the most near-sighted amongst us images are important. And despite all reassurances from the authorities, the media is stepping up to the mark in just the way Robert Shiller describes in Irrational Exuberance, or as Taleb told me:-

If you are using visuals, you are probably messing up the world. Because you focus on the lurid, and sensational, and an image automatically hits people in their limbic. As we know, we are more reactive to the visual.”

But here are some visuals that won’t mess you up. Check out the following Magoo episode, which covers house-moving, alternative forms of housing finance (aka theft), and making big bets on chance outcomes that the winner believes results from his ineffable skill.

The collected works of Magoo can be purchased below.