The fallout from the subprime mortgage collapse has hit Boston hard. Entire neighborhoods have been abandoned by homeowners who fell behind on their payments, and the economic impact of questionable loans is spreading beyond the real estate market. Now the Turnpike Authority is in trouble with a variable-rate loan, and it can’t walk away from the 138-mile roadway it’s responsible for.

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It will be interesting to see how history will view the Big Dig project. Currently, the city’s attitude ranges from anger that the damn thing cost so much to shoulder-shrugging indifference because we’re stuck with it.

But other cities aren’t willing to experiment with underground highways, largely because of what happened here.

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This morning the papers reported that a Big Dig settlement would come as soon as today. Lo and behold, this afternoon it was announced that the companies involved in the construction and design of our leaky, fatal tunnel will pay the commonwealth a combined $458 million.

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Much like our traumatic childhood memories, we’ve repressed our recollections of what it was like to drive around Boston during the height of Big Dig construction. It may be time to seek counseling to deal with our dormant transportation memories. With the decay of several bridges between Boston and Cambridge, it looks like we’re in for another decade of detours and delays.

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The Big Dig is like that crazy relative you make fun of all the time. Sure, you’re allowed to laugh at his foibles, but if an outsider ventures a comment, the gloves come off. Therefore, we’re a little angry with our tiny neighbor to the south, who thinks its own major highway project is too good to be associated with the Big Dig.

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There’s something cinematic about the idea of an art heist. Someone dressed in head-to-toe black suddenly pulls a mask over his face, grabs a precious artifact, and runs for the doors as alarms whoop. The city’s latest art theft is less a blockbuster scenario, and more the petty bickering of rich men.

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Before quick-set epoxy became the most controversial product used in the construction of the Big Dig, Aggregate Industries NE faced charges that it falsified records about the quality of the concrete used in the epic construction project. Today, Aggregate pleaded guilty to fraud.

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