Alice In Numberland Views

• General Goods

So we spiral down this numbers-riddled hole, wondering, like Alice, what looms ahead. We are startled by worsening unemployment, last at 8.1 percent. We are heartened when stocks rise, as they have over the past several trading sessions. Because, in addition to feeding on all the other outlandish figures, we have become avid stock watchers, scrupulously recording the daily ups and downs of the markets. Whatever happens, whether this recession deepens or abates, however many trillions of dollars in federal aid are dispensed, whichever mighty corporate titans survive or fall, we will be riveteds–by Numberland.