I have to say that Monday morning's Krugman column is truly chilling. I hope that everyone on here gets the chance today to read it.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
How bad is it? Well, I’ve never seen financial insiders this spooked — not even during the Asian crisis of 1997-98, when economic dominoes seemed to be falling all around the world
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EDIT: and let me take advantage of having a recommended diary to point anyone interested in financial issues, that hasn't seen it already, to a video I was forwarded to a while back - MONEY AS DEBT - it really is very instructive and worth watching: http://video.google.com/...
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This time, market players seem truly horrified — because they’ve suddenly realized that they don’t understand the complex financial system they created.
The financial masters of the universe, who have pulled the strings in America - and in Europe, and the rest of the world - for so long, have completely lost control of the beast.
Unfortunately the system seems incapable of policing or fixing itself - at a deep structural level. A system which has failed in its entirety - it is riddled with failure like holes in swiss cheese.
I worry we're falling precipitous first into recession, then into something worse... then eventually as the realities of our having passed the peak in oil production start to hit us, as we start to slip as the plateau becomes a slope, slide as the slope steepens... of course i worry most about the plunge...
(personally I read the Oil Drum daily, and recommend it to everyone - for those that wonder why Peak Oil matters, imagine trying to climb out the other side of a deep recession or depression with oil availability crashing, without the energy resources to build our way out - no FDR on the horizon)
But anyway, read Krugman to get a sense of how seriously this should be being discussed as a campaign issue. This should be a major electoral story - our entire financial system - where we've bet our all as a nation, having sacrificed all else to it, is collapsing, falling apart... it's gone rogue.
Comments always appreciated.