Christopher Hitchens thinks so.
It’s all about kleptocratic business leaders, weak-willed politicians and the complete absence of accountability for the empowered class.
Just a taste:
Now ask yourself another question. Has anybody resigned, from either the public or the private sectors (overlapping so lavishly as they now do)? Has anybody even offered to resign? Have you heard [...]

The global economic troubles worsened today as major markets around the world have fallen 6-10%. The situation has deteriorated to the point that the world’s financial ministers and central bankers will meet in Washington this weekend in an attempt to coordinate a global response.
Unfortunately, no one really knows what will calm global markets. On the [...]

Another bad day for Wall Street as the Dow lost 7% and fell below 9,000.
Since a year ago today, the Dow has shed 39% of its value.
It’s not pretty out there.

When you miss a detail as big as this, you have to wonder if the hand at the tiller is all that steady.
This phrase was originally in McCain’s plan: “Lenders in these cases must recognize the loss that they’ve already suffered.”
Well, that was wrong. Lenders won’t be suffering any losses at all. Instead, McCain’s plan [...]

When John McCain first announced his homeowner bailout plan, called the American Homeownership Rescue Plan, the description of the plan indicated that the government would not pay face value for troubled loans but would pay a discounted rate reflecting the declining value of the property. The line used by the McCain campaign was:” Lenders in [...]

Sad, but true.

A few weeks ago I decided that I’m just going to throw away my next IRA statement without opening it. This is looking like a better and better idea.
Apparently, American retirement plans have lost $2 trillion over the last 15 months. That’s 20 percent of their value. And that doesn’t include what people [...]

In a stunning display of self absorption, executives at financial giant AIG spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat just days after accepting an $85 billion bailout loan from the federal government.
While the extravagant retreat did not include employees from the troubled financial services division, how on earth could these men and women partake [...]

First, Politico details the “new” proposal…
“The McCain Resurgence Plan would purchase mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage servicers, and replace them with manageable, fixed-rate mortgages that will keep families in their homes,” according to the campaign. “By purchasing the existing, failing mortgages, the McCain Resurgence Plan will eliminate uncertainty over defaults, support the value [...]

I don’t even want to look at my 401(k) anymore. Too painful.
Seriously, take a look at this graph too see a 1 month view of this downward spiral…

Truly astonishing…
NEW YORK (AP) - The misery worsened on Wall Street Tuesday, with stocks piling on the losses late in the session and bringing the two-day decline in [...]

There are four weeks until the election and I’m still not 100% sure who I will vote for.
While I hope that my posts over the last month have made clear my respect for and problems with both candidates, I thought I’d take a moment to update the regular readers on where I stand.
I’ve [...]

I wouldn’t usually write about this, but A) Hugh McColl, Jr. sounds like he has to be a fiscal conservative if he’s a banker and B) Bank of America appears to be one of those banks that’s apparently extremely well-managed and is weathering this crisis because of it.
What’s more, this editorial is in the Charlotte [...]

I suppose it would have been nice if the $700 billion bailout was the magic bullet needed to right our economic ship. But after today’s tumult on Wall Street, it’s pretty clear we’re not out the woods.
At one point today, the Dow was down 800 points, but managed to close “just” 370 points down. How [...]

As purse strings tighten and consumption plummets, the market runs screaming.
Reuters has more…
Oil dropped $6 to below $88 a barrel on Monday on expectations the growing financial crisis will further slow already faltering global fuel demand.
Crude prices have plummeted from a peak over $147 a barrel set on July 11 as high fuel prices and [...]

As mentioned before, I think this will be a far more effective attack on McCain, than McCain raising Ayers Rezko and Wright.

And ultimately, I think McCain will regret going negative in these last few weeks.
What do you think?

It’s currently below the 9,900, a 4%+ loss.
Why is this happening?
My best guess is it’s because Europe is feeling a big pinch too…
European nations scrambled further Monday to prevent a growing credit crisis from bringing down major banks and alarming savers as Sweden followed Germany, Austria and Denmark in offering new protections for bank deposits.
As [...]

And now we find out that if McCain is going to question Obama’s past connections, the Obama camp will respond in kind.
But one of the key difference here is McCain’s past connections are tied to our last massive economic crisis. So while Ayers, Rezko and Rev. Wright may not necessarily make voters more comfortable [...]

A pair of articles out this weekend outline the extent to which the economic situation has altered the political landscape, and created an opportunity for Barack Obama to not only win, but win big.
Yesterday, the New York Times’ Adam Nagourney noted that the economy has given Barack Obama openings in several states that George W. [...]

Looks like those 100 Republicans still stood firmly in opposition even though it was widely known that the credit markets AROUND THE WORLD had frozen up and there was absolutely nothing that could reverse that except this bill.
So how did we get here?
The core of the plan remains little changed from its inception—the Treasury Department [...]

And we haven’t even felt the effects from the credit crunch.
From MarketWatch:
For the week ended Sept. 27, seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose 1,000, to stand at 497,000 — the highest since late September 2001. The higher number reflects claims following the damage wreaked by Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana and Hurricane Ike in [...]