As we approach normal in the U.S. economy, I thought it would be worth taking a look back at the very real risks we have skirted over the past several years. One of the major drivers in the “disaster chic” commentary cycle, which I have written about many times, is to take a real risk and extrapolate current trends into disaster. This plays into a very human tendency to do just that, as well as a pessimism born of recent experiences during the crisis.

The big economic news yesterday was the release of the October minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve, better known as the Fed. For the past several years, these meeting minutes have been largely devoid of drama, as interest rates have been widely expected to remain low. But speculation over whether Janet Yellen will or won’t raise interest rates has gotten pretty intense over the past several months.

As you might imagine, I’ve been thinking about Paris a lot the past couple of days: the usual rage and horror, the usual thoughts about what can be done. But the saddest part about it for me? It's just two words—“the usual.”

Ben Bernanke wrote The Courage to Act to lay out his view, from inside the belly of the beast, of what happened during the 2008 financial crisis. It is worth reading—you will not find a clearer, more informed, and even essentially dispassionate account of the biggest economic crisis in the past several generations. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in understanding not only what happened but why.

Last week was a slow one for major economic news, with mixed results. There were two reports of significance, so let’s take a closer look.

This will be another short post from Commonwealth’s National Conference—short because I want to get back to some of the great informational sessions this afternoon.

Today’s post will be a short one, as I am currently at Commonwealth’s National Conference in Washington, DC. I spent this morning working on a giving back project, which involved painting three different properties that provide shelter to homeless veterans in our nation’s capital.

The question that seems to be occurring to more and more people is, “Are we at a market peak?” It has been a multiyear bull market, stock prices have tripled from the base, profit margins have been at record highs for years, and now interest rates are going up. It’s not a crazy thought.

Starting tomorrow, I will be off to Commonwealth’s National Conference for the rest of the week. It will be a very busy several days, including a giving-back project, which is a Commonwealth tradition that we do at every event, leaving a place somewhat better than we found it; a birthday dinner for an advisor friend; multiple other dinners and functions; and, of course, my conversation with Ben Bernanke on Friday.

Last week’s economic data was very much in line with the weather—much better than expected. As I will outline in this Monday update, it wasn’t the full “shirtsleeves in November” that we had in Boston, but it was nonetheless much sunnier than the prior weeks may have suggested.