I don’t know if you can imagine the Phoenix Suns’ Amare Stoudamire, all 6’9″ and 250 pounds of him, covered in yellow feathers and chirping, but if there’s a canary in this economic mine telling us that things are going to get a whole heck of a lot worse before they get better, he just might be it. Symbolically, at least. Read Bill Simmons’ column from last week, “Welcome to the No Benjamins Association,” and you’ll understand. Even if you aren’t a basketball fan, read it; it’s partly about other problems besetting the NBA these days, but what’s most telling is the angle it provides on where our economy is now, where it’s going, and what the consequences are likely to be for people locked into long-term commitments made before the economy tanked.
