What Caused the U.S. Economic Failure?

House of CardsWith all the talk about bailouts, bonuses, foreclosures, excess spending, and the growing deficit, have you ever wondered, “how the hell did we get here in the first place?”

I have written countless articles on The Slow Bleed that talk about various individual components of this immense screw up. Most of them target a horrific combination of greed and stupidity.

Recently someone sent me an article that appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine. I have to say, it is probably one of the best soup to nuts explanations of not only what went wrong, but also what is still going wrong. The article is a bit long, but certainly worth reading; and probably more than once. When your done, let me know what you think. [Read more...]

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Where is the Bailout Money Going?

A few billion here, a few billion there. Pretty soon we will be talking about real money. 

As much as I love to write, I am not a big fan of typing numbers. So, when it came time to writing an actual blog about where the bailout money is going to go I knew I was in trouble – lots of numbers, lots of zeros. [Read more...]

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Will the Stimulus Package Work?

Lately I keep getting asked three questions about the bailout and stimulus situation. The questions are; “Could we have done things differently?” “Will the stimulus package work?” “At what cost?” – Here are my answers… 

Q: Could we have done things differently?  [Read more...]

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Was the U.S. Near Financial Meltdown?

There has been a lot of talk about whether we really need the bailout or if it is even the right decision. Is it worth the risk? Before you can really debate those issues it also becomes a question of how fragile is our current system?

Check out the video of Congressman Paul Kanjorski. If you want, skip to the 2:12 mark into the video for a interesting look into the situation. Follow this link…

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Citigroup Grounds New Corporate Jet

If common sense doesn’t work, why not try some old fashioned bullying? To date, Citigroup has received $45 billion in bailout money. So you would think the company would be making every cut they can to survive and use the money wisely – too bad it takes a call out from the President of the U.S. to get you to start thinking correctly. [Read more...]

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“Out of Touch” Congress Gets a Raise…

It is good to be Kingor perhaps in Congress. Amidst the unprecedented economic downturn Congress received a raise this month. Our nation lost over a Million jobs in the fourth quarter of 2008 alone but Congressional Representatives will enjoy a $4,700 raise. 

Congressional Representatives make $174,000 a year (about $87 per hour) and the increase is an automatic cost-of-living raise. In their defense this was created several years ago and the percentage increase is below normal. [Read more...]

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The (Waterford) Glass is Half Cracked

Perhaps now the right people will realize we are in a down economy (globally). Waterford Crystal (actually the company is called Waterford Wedgwood PLC) has filed for bankruptcy. 

Waterford has been an iconic name for over 250 years. It is the crème de crème when it comes to glassware. It seems people are cutting back on the high-end pottery (I wonder if they are selling more Dixie Cups?). [Read more...]

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