On Monday, April 27, 2009 I closed the NASDAQ – yes, that’s right. Y’all can thank little ol’ me for stopping the American economy’s losses in stocks that day. Why did I get to go to the NASDAQ? Because I’m that important. Or because April was Autism Awareness Month and the school I work at was invited to go to the closing bell ceremony for NASDAQ.

In all seriousness though, NASDAQ was sort of disappointing.

But that picture looks so exciting! you say?…

The NASDAQ was nothing like my movie fantasies of a huge trading
floor with hundreds of swarming people yelling BUY!!! SELL!!! with their eyes bulging out of their sockets (I
guess that’s the NY Stock Exchange – the NASDAQ is apparently NYSE‘s stunted
cousin). It was one little room in Times Square,
decorated with blue neon lighting a la Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire, with dramatic heartbeat music in the background.
Really, it was extremely kitschy. There were some red numbers up on a screen
detailing the day’s losses, and the photos and videos were broadcast live on the
outside of the building. The New York Center for Autism
Charter School
and Autism Speaks became a digital billboard in Times
Square. It couldn’t feel more bizarre.

The whole time I kept thinking…this is it? This is the
backbone of the American economy? This neon room? These blinking lights? No
wonder we’re in a recession. I don’t know what’s going on here at all. I felt
blinded by the theatre of it. And it hit me, hard:

I don’t understand anything about national or global economics.
And most of us don’t. When did I ever take an econ class? Never. No one ever made me. I used to think all that stuff was just boring so I ignored it.

To quote Lewis Black: If taxes are so important, and taxes
are math, how come nobody in the history of this country has taught taxes in a
math class? No! Instead they teach you stuff like Geometry which is no help at
all. I still can’t play pool! 

I think that in order for us as a country to make our economy strong again, we’re all going to need to take responsibility for the crisis that we’re in right now. It’s easy to place blame on an unknown group of people like the bankers and Wall Street business people, but what about the rest of us?

Instead of only blaming outward, why not do some work
ourselves?
What can I do to learn more about the world economy? Should
I start reading the Wall Street Journal? Can anyone recommend a finance book
for a non-mathematically minded person?

This kid can close up his ears because he has autism. What’s my excuse besides laziness?