Thoughts flying into JFK:

It’s rare now that I get to watch an entire movie, but international travel is wonderful for the experience. Granted the screens are small and you don’t get a surround sound experience, but there aren’t that many movies that warrant that type of attention anyway.

This flight I watched The Big Short and I thought I knew about the housing crisis, but I didn’t know how insidious or disastrous it actually was. I also wish I knew enough about mortgage backed securities to have made some money on the crash. I won’t say that I saw it coming too, but it was clear in 2006-2007 that housing prices were hyper inflated and not commensurate with middle class income levels or reasonable growth. What little I know of economics showed me that. But the idiocy and arrogance of those in the financial sector were staggering, especially their knowledge that public tax dollars would bail them out. It was truly a damn shame. It was definitely a Hollywood movie that nearly brought me to tears at the end from rage and sadness at our shortsightedness. Great Movie! Makes you want to go punch a banker.

Looking over at the Manhattan skyline after weeks in Kraków and Munich is a true departure. America is big and grand. You can’t help but agree with all of the writers in the past remarking on the grandiosity of American spirit and attitude. I have been to some incredible places and learned a ton over the past month, but damn am I happy to be home.