comet

Posted to the web on: 16 July 2008
Markets not only things that crash
John Kay

THIS month marked the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska explosion in Siberia. If you weren’t celebrating, you should have been. The incident was probably the nearest we have come to extinction in modern human history — and we survived.

A large object — presumably an asteroid or meteorite — collided with the Earth. If it had landed in Manhattan, it would have destroyed New York. A bit bigger, and it would have been calamitous wherever it landed. A similar event at Yucatan, 65-million years ago, wiped out the dinosaurs and most other species.

There are many catastrophes graver than meltdown in the markets. The road to oblivion has many unexpected turnings. Environmental catastrophes, such as meteorites or seismic events, may do us in. Something even more devastating than the Yucatan object is on its way, but it may be tens of millions of years before it reaches us.