by Laura Conaway

Some days, it's hard telling whether you're being more responsible by looking at the news or away from it. Police say David Kellermann, the 41-year-old chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, killed himself in the basement of his Virginia home this morning. And investigators in Maryland now say the strain of debt and foreclosure may have played a role in a father's killing of himself, his wife and their three children last week.

If you prefer the news in numbers, take two: The IMF estimates that banks and other financial institutions worldwide will lose a total of $ 4.1 trillion in the financial crisis, against the $1.1 trillion the G20 pledged for the recovery.

Or, you could consider the opportunities a little farther afield.

 

The Space Business Forum, a project of the Space Foundation, sends word that you can still make the early-bird deadline for its June confab in New York. Apparently, there really is hope somewhere, out there:

"The Space Foundation's recently released The Space Report 2009 revealed that, despite the difficult economy, the global space business grew more that 2.5 percent in 2008, with some commercial sectors growing at rates over 30 percent," said Elliot Pulham, chief executive officer of the Space Foundation.

"As space becomes increasingly integrated into the mainstream consumer market, Wall Street is looking for more - and better - information about the sector. Space Business Forum: New York will provide the kind of data the financial community is looking for in an up-close-and-personal format that will permit real examination of the issues and opportunities."