Gloom and Tune

UPDATED 5:10 P.M. to provide more context on Jon Shayne's comments. In this morning's VentureNashville report, investment guru Bill Spitz of Nashville provides a sobering analysis of the ethos in which the mortgage-banking crisis has unfolded, and questions whether investors will ever learn to put some distance between themselves and lemming-like mob sentiment. Spitz raised the principle of the "Moral Hazard," often invoked by economists who worry that bailouts may encourage future reckless investing. In addition, markets analyst Jon Shayne here in Music City told VNC this morning he's working away on another song -- this one about the plight of Freddie and Fannie -- to follow Jon's earlier cult hit by his on-stage persona, performer "Merle Hazard." In another conversation late this afternoon with Jon, he noted that while the future of the economy is "inherently uncertain, it seems more likely than not that we're about to have the deepest recession of the lifetime of anybody now working."