In a period that gave us Viagra, an Ecstasy boom, progress against H.I.V. and a Barry White boxed set -- could there be any more favorable conditions for widespread whoopee?
Me, I think in an economy where a) inequality steers growth away from the broad middle, b) credit is cheap, under-regulated, and securitized such that there's distance between originator and final borrower, and c) as the boom progresses, risk become underpriced -- well, that's a recipe for the shampoo cycle (bubble, bust, repeat) with inequality at the core of the model.
Under Mr Karzai, security has worsened, opium production has boomed and initial progress on women's rights has been largely eroded.
"WELCOME to a work in progress!" boomed John Krysko one recent afternoon as he bounded around puddles and stacks of construction debris outside the Marmaduke Forster house here.
Despite a dire economy, there's a boom in progress.
Thanks to the research team at Built In Chicago, quickly becoming famous for their beautiful and informationally-dense infographics, we've got a great snapshot of a boom in progress.
George Town (population about 500,000), Penang's main city, is a UNESCO World Heritage site with a 500-year history of trading and a hotel boom in progress.
Even with all the economic growth, lower debt, lower taxes, booming exports and strong currency, public sector debt is still 51% of GDP, so continued progress is essential.
"My buyers have found that construction quality went down as the boom years progressed," said Tom Demsker, who runs Demsker Realty, a specialist in downtown dwellings.
In June of 1988, I asked a residential real-estate broker on the West Side of Los Angeles what effect a defense cut-back would have on the real-estate boom then in progress.
For many banks, the crisis reflects a simpler tale of frenetic asset growth and the inevitable turn of the credit cycle.And that raises a bigger management question how institutions can resist the pressure to grow when a boom is in progress.
