The Financial Crisis Comes Home




DJI adjusted for the price of goldAlright.  So we hear things are bad, getting worse, but what does that actually mean?  What it means is that the poison that was released into the international financial system this September, when things got really crazy, when our brave leaders finally took the time to look into what was really happening, is now traversing through the system and showing up in the most unexpected places.

For example, (exempla gratia), a school district in Wisconsin is finding itself in such difficult straits that it may have to declare bankruptcy because of a German bank that moved to Ireland’s decisions.  They didn’t even contract with that bank!  In fact, they never did any business with it at all.  But because of the networked nature of the globalized economy, no one is safe from the shock waves emanating from multiple epicenters simultaneously.

Listen at NPR.org;s Planet Money Blog: A Tale of Intertwined Misery

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4 Responses to “The Financial Crisis Comes Home”

  1. The problem with the economic crisis is that it resembles the Domino Effect in a way.

    We were once the leading economic superpower; as our economy weakens, our money becomes less valuable, making international powers who have our money essentially have less than originally. It is alarming how America is greatly contributing to bringing other countries down also.

    I’ll be sure to listen to the show later. Do you know how long it is?

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  2. At least gas prices are cheap; yay for driving!

    On topic:
    Do schools really get loans from banks? I guess that indirectly, they get their money from the state/federal government, which in turn, gets loans from banks, but how would that make a district go bankrupt?

    And also, registration was ridiculous this year. I remember Mrs. Currie telling us how some PTSA mom forced the school to take off the few dollars for the lab manuals/books we had to buy because they were going towards funds for lab supplies.
    It’s sad to see that even parents don’t want to spend the few extra dollars to help the school, but whatever. It’s America, we can do what we want with our own money, even if it means that children won’t get a well-rounded education.

    road trip to Canada, eh?

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  3. boooo
    I hate the economy now.
    Stocks keep dropping, a bunch of major companies are going bankrupt [like Circuit City], and the whole world’s economy is sucking.
    Kolkin is correct, it is like the domino effect that just keeps on getting worse and worse and worse…
    Wow, look at that pro use of ellipses.
    Anyways, I’m getting really scared. :(

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  4. Listen to the show, Nadir.

    And school districts have money that they can choose to invest. So they do what they must. They don’t get loans, they post bonds, which is similar, but a different beast.

    Listen to the show!

    It’s only like 20 minutes.

    [Reply to comment]

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