As time goes by...Oy

Boy, what a lousy year! Paste it onto the last four months of 2008 and you've got the worst economic stretch since at least the 1970s - and arguably much further back. The word everyone keeps using is "transformative," which is another way of saying that you can kiss off a lot of the old stuff, good, bad or indifferent. For instance: print newspapers (they're still around but nobody pays much attention); easy-finance construction loans (the great, Grand Avenue project is so over); the broadcast TV model (just doesn't make sense anymore in a cable-Internet-smart phone universe); chain bookstores; mid-range department stores; Toyota's invincibility as a carmaker; Chrysler's survival as a carmaker; any and all investor respect for scandal-ridden Calpers (OK, maybe Bernie Madoff is still a fan); using integrity as a marketing tool (think Tiger); striking down most campaign finance laws (the Supreme Court will see to that early next year); the Enron-inspired Sarbanes-Oxley legislation that was supposed to make public corporations more accountable (another probable takeaway from the Supremes); any notion that Afghanistan is "the good war," Pete Carroll as head coach of USC (another two seasons at most); the charmed political life of Antonio Villaraigosa (he'll do something really dumb, trust me); 5 percent unemployment; people under 60 watching live TV (except for major news events and sports); cultural references to anything before 2000 (Ask your 15-year-old who Meg Ryan is.); movie awards (with due respect to the folks who cover Hollywood, does anyone not in the business really care how many Oscars "Avatar" or "Up in the Air" receive?); the slow-but-steady dismantling of all-news station KNX (destined to become a news-talk outlet); billions of dollars in tax credits awarded to California businesses (movie production companies being the latest recipients) under the faulty assumption that they create enough new jobs to offset the revenues being lost; accounting gimmicks that have managed to prop up the state budget (no more of them left); Arnold Schwarzenegger (a flawed governor, but positively Lincolnesque compared with the Republican schmos who have obstructed state lawmaking at every turn); the use of fundamentals when selecting stocks (strong earnings results don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world); and last but not least, traditional 9-5 paycheck employment (c'mon, is anyone still doing that?).