This whole Finance Crisis thing........

[thebaronmk1]

..... would be funny if it weren't soo darned expensive

Comments

[casadeivanova]

Oh god, that is a GREAT point (the last one particularly) that hadn't clicked until you pointed it out...just cements my opinion of americans. Stupid.

Re: Agree

[mireille21]

Short selling is like gambling, and it goes by a few names (including Futures Exchange). It is where you guarantee to buy or sell something at a given price on an certain day. If the market moves in your favour then hooray, you make money, it moves against you, then you're screwed as you are committed to buying or selling whatever it was at the agreed price. I recall there was quite a scandal involving short-selling of airline stocks in the US around the time of 9/11, but then it all went quiet.

And yeah, I've never agreed with people coming screaming to the government to bail out financial institutions when they go belly up. People should be aware of the risk from the start (which is usually in proportion to the returns offered). After all, will anyone bail out the small business person if they don't look after *their* business?

Right there with on the environmental stuff too. Who cares if we're 'rich' if we haven't fucking got anything to eat!?

[patchworkkid]

I only hope - and hope is pretty much all we can do - that when the financial powerbase shifts completely to Asia that the cultural difference doesn't undo any positive environmental progress that's been achieved, and that politically it doesn't make the world any less stable.

Screw interesting times, I'd like to know that at 60 I'm not going to be living in a lean-to made of gas cans and plastic sheeting.

[daern]

I can't recall? Did you say you'd read Stark? *grins* If not, you should get a copy.