Seriously, someone talk me down-


Derivatives:
First, within the 600trillion-1.2 quadrillion OTC derivatives market their is a black hole. Even if it only amount to 10% of the conservative market estimate that is 60 trillion dollars.

Stimulus:
Along with all the bailouts and stimulus we will have shelled-out (one way or another) 5-7 trillion dollars (note a lot of that is Fed. Res. stuff, but it still counts). Most realistic economists are thinking we may need as much as the equivalent of 10-20% of GDP. That would put a total somewhere close to 20trillion. In other words, we have only done 1/4 of what we need to do to get the economy started again.

The team: Obama's team... shit these people are in large part responsible for the problem. Paulson explicitly shielded the banks from scrutiny because in essence the transactions they were involved with were not so different from what Madoff was up to. We should have used the same approach with them. Frozen all their assets and sent in the lawyers and accountants to prepare the prosecutions. Ruben? Summers? Geithner? What part of fox in henhouse do people not understand? Now ... Not blaming Obama here, but time to think out of the box and find economic gurus who can do the same. That should include people who have enough vision to imagine a post-capitalist future.

The big devaluation: one of the only ways to get out of the 'mess' is to print money... a process the Fed has continued in earnest since 2000. The difference is that now it is a world-wide policy. Most countries are basically giving money away to throw at the crisis. What does this mean in the long term? Imagine a world where the dollar (and all other major currencies) are worth half their former value. Oh, and did I fail to mention, your salary level would stay about the same in addition to the rest of the world. Essentially, this would be the death knell for the middle class around the world. Of course the big devaluation will lead to the massive inflation once there is a 'real' recovery causing additional misery and fall-out. We are already seeing some signs of this. Have you noticed how prices don't seem to be keeping pace with economic retreat? Cheap money is keeping inflationary pressures artificially high when prices should be dropping like a rock.

This is what will happen if we continue to follow the current capitalist end-game unless the people are willing reject the bankrupt system itself.

I am not saying that socialism is the answer... far from it. However, we need to think quickly what a post-capitalist, post-consumer society will look like before it is too late.