Money Spirals

Tim Geithner’s explanation of the financial crisis and the plan—grimly called TARP II, as if the first one (which is flimsy-sounding enough) blew off when all the money got blasted away in a funnel-cloud—is less patronizing than those I’ve railed against in the past. And it’s discomfiting:

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The Brits Explain the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

John Bird and John Fortune: incisive, weak-chinned and devastating:

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U.S. Treasury Staves Off New Depression With Movie-Reel Parody that Evokes the Old One

Dear Carla Fran,
I stand corrected. Gawker alerted me today to the fact that the U.S. Treasury has decided to correct the mismanagement of our youth’s financial education. Hurrah!
Their new website, http://www.controlyourcredit.gov/, parodies creepy hotel movies (Barton Fink or similar). The object is apparently to reach Room 850 (the Golden Number for Perfect Credit). [...]

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Zoinks!

Dear Millicent,
I was washing dishes today, and I very much wanted to make a connection between knowledge of our government/economy/crises, and your frustration with the stains in your mugs.  I think of your mugs because of the need to bring out the big gun–that most indigestible chemical of all to go in a drinking cup, [...]

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GREAT DEPRESSION! GREAT DEPRESSION!

Dear Carla Fran,
With headlines everywhere today screaming about the meltdown of the economy, I felt my pulse quicken. “My God!” I thought. “My money!” Before remembering, like the Bluths (Season 3, Episode 6), that I have no money.
As I read one article after another, fear turned to rage over the meltdown of language [...]

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