[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

Very interesting, and another sign of what precarious times we are living in.

[Glenn]

and another sign of what precarious times we are living in

Japan survived something similar, as did the rest of capitalist Asia. We'll do fine in the long run.

[stevem]

Very interesting, and another sign of what precarious times we are living in.

I think these things tend to operate in cycles.

[Proud_texan]

Let's see, where have I seen this before? Ah yes, during runaway inflation and wage and price controls of the 70s. No, no it was during the arms war and deficits of the 80s. Or maybe I'm wrong and it was Japan buying the whole dag gum contry. Umm, nah, it was the S&L melt down. Opps, wait, it was the tax increases and then the dot-com bubble popping in the 90s. Urp, no, it was the tax cut in the 2000s.

Gee, I'm confused what with the sky constantly falling on my head over the years.

[SShultz460]

I don’t think so, but all right

[leadhead]

The article is a bit disingenuous in that Britain, Ireland, Germany, etc. were making their own subprime loans. It wasn't just the US.

Some of their financial institutions were late getting into their local scene and bought the funny stuff from the US to catch up on comparative returns.

As of right now, nobody knows how bad the loan portfolios are because they are so mixed with good and bad.There are a lot of subprime borrowers who are not defaulting.

I question why some of the financial institutions are writing off such big hits without real knowledge of what they got. Is it to be able to buy back their stock at a low price and later reinstate earnings when the portfolios perform?

[Cold Heat]

Slowly step away from the TV and read a book or something.

Everything will miraculously be fixed and the perceptions will
suddenly change as soon as another Clinton is in the White House.

All this worry is a complete fabrication by the National Media.

If more people understood this phenomenon, no Democrat would ever sit in the oval office, but they never understand it.

We are truly a Nation of Sheep.

[RoadTest]

Either this article is a true picture of what is going on, or it is designed to be anti-American.

I don’t know enough to tell the difference.

[Puddleglum]

ping to read later

[yldstrk]

If the dollar collapses the whole world would be rushing to buy our American made products.

[jwatzzzzz]

” Muslims outside the United States interpret America’s policies in the Middle East not as an effort to spread democracy but as a blatant neocolonialist attempt to solve its economic problems by force. Arabs and Persians alike argue that America’s fiscal irresponsibility has forced the nation to seek solutions through military aggression.

Many believe that America’s misguided adventure in Iraq was a desperate attempt to capture both a reliable source of cheap oil and a major export market for the United States. ...” bla bla bla

This article is from Hamid Varsi,a muslim, who is from Iran. The above is a snippet of his anti american rantings.

[newzjunkey]

I'm concerned about the falling dollar. The Aus dollar is around 93 cents. The Canadian dollar is around $1.05. The pound over $2 and the Euro about $1.44.

A weak dollar may help spur foreign investment but it sure does nothing for the average American's buying power.

[Bean Counter]

Chicken Little Society *ping*

[RKV]

Typical gold-bug non-economics. In other words, total BS. It starts with the big lie (”The world’s financial system came precariously close to seizing up recently.”) and goes downhill. I hope to make lots of money on the people who believe this stuff.

[lonestar67]

Brilliantly written stupidity.

[ontap]

Europe is like a spoiled child, when times are great they’re right behind you but when you hit a bump they’re off the wagon. Remember the old adage “You can always depend on France to be there when they need us” same goes for the rest of them. Have no fear they’ll be back. Where else are they gonna go?

[montag813]

America is like one huge subprime debtor. Except our “Countrywide” is China.

[montag813]

What’s going to happen to the fired Merrill Lynch CEO who is getting a $159 million severence package now that they discovered Merrill attempted to hide $8 billion in losses by diverting them to hedge funds? Will he skate because he was Jesse Jackson’s affirmative action hire? Let’s see if Spitzer has as much outrage over him as he did over Dick Grasso.

[Poison Pill]

“another sign of what precarious times we are living in.”

In which era where the times were not precarious?

[wildbill]

In reading through the posts, I found many that disagreed with the article—but without I fear reading the whole piece.

Whether you like it or not, the Dollar has slumped to record lows against the Euro over the past few months and seems primed to go even lower.

Are such currency ratings cyclical? Sure, but the overwhelming reputation of the Dollar as the safest currency may be tarnished with every cycle.

[groanup]

Ping.

Another article.

Anytime a lot of people lose a lot of money on the same type of investment it's someone else's fault. Time to point fingers and blame. Didn't any of these sub prime investors wonder why they were getting junk bond yields on AAA paper?

But it doesn't matter. If investment genius X loses a ton of money at the same time all the other investment geniuses are losing even more, X's job is safe. Your money isn't but his job is.