Economic Collapse for Dummies

The Melting Pot Project ^ | 4/6/09 | Jill Twiss

[emanresUyM]

You see, I decided that it's not okay for me to be angry with A.I.G. for giving bonuses to derivatives traders without knowing what derivatives traders do. It doesn't make sense for me to be pissed at banks who made ridiculous housing loans till I understand why they did it, which means understanding mortgage-backed securities. And I'm not allowed to ridicule Congress for passing legislation allowing credit default swaps until I figure out what credit default swaps are.

[emanresUyM]

This is a really good explanation for some of the complicated terms that are in the news every day now, and what they all mean in relation to the financial crisis.

[unkus]

Thanks for posting.

[1rudeboy]

So yes, if you know lots of THINGS about economics and Wall Street and trading and ice hockey, you should probably stop reading now.

Stopped reading right there. Anyone else care to give me an executive summary?

[Mind Freed]

Looks very informative... Takes up too much bandwidth at work though. Damn network monitors, why can't they just let us browse while we work... Seriously I am working.

Ping for later

[libertarian27]

Ping for later

[JoeFromSidney]

I stopped reading when he advocated proportional representation. I lived in Turkey and saw how that worked.

Each party puts up a list of candidates. People vote for a party, not for the individuals on the list. If a party gets X% of the total vote, then the top X% of the candidates on their list are elected.

Once elected, the former candidates are loyal, not to the voters who voted for their party, but to the party boss who put them near the top of the list.

Despite its flaws, I like our system. If you don't like how your congresscritter votes, at least you know who to blame, and who to vote against next time. There's nothing you as a voter can do about getting rid of a bad party boss.

[unkus]

Thanks for the information.