""We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."" - Louis Gray from Bookmarklet

And what's the bad news? - Michael Fidler

This is very disturbing. :( - Susan Beebe

Michael, the bad news is: we are living inside this system that is currently on life support. - Detlef Cordes

Soros is definitely more entertaining than Buffett for his sound bytes. - Cole Jolley

That's what scares me most. It's not a recession/depression - it's finding the bottom to this thing so people can quit worrying so much about how bad it's going to get and start thinking towards how to get better from it. - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge

Why would we wait to reach the bottom before we start fixing it? Are we that lazy/masochistic? - deusdiabolus

But what's the fix? We are living inside a system on life support, with multi organ failure - but to we have a diagnosis? Do we know the exact causes? Money glut? Savings glut? - Detlef Cordes

there is no fix, the system has failed. the replacement is already in place, but the banks and brokerages wont acknowledge this because they are not part of the new system, of course politicians and governments will continue to fund proejcts and electoral promises with hollow instruments of credit for a few quarters yet, this too will end.cash rich societies and governments are already moving in ( in fact have been for a few years now ) and snapping up assets that will be managed using very short term credit instruments, minimal risk, real collateral and oversight that actually sees whats going on rather just staring, blind gredd is being replaced by the ( rueful ? ) understanding that wall streets chickens have finally come home to roost. - atul abraham from twhirl

atul abraham, please help me: I don't see that replacement. Where is the real collateral? Real estate? Short term credit? For whom? The US government? - Detlef Cordes

I'm in Atul's camp. Sounds like the solution is increased ownership to step in where decay is most severe. - Mike Reynolds

Hey postlinearity. Would you like to share what this new paradigm is about? - Detlef Cordes

And yes the other paradigm is that people will be less likely to overspend. - Mike Reynolds

I don't understand the point of the article. So tell us something we DON'T know? "Experts" that don't offer solutions or directions <<< - Mona Nomura

Mona, you might find this article interesting and disturbing: http://www.kitco.com/ind... - Aaman (Clone of FF)

I've been sharing Putin articles since I started FriendFeed but no one seems to find them interesting. South America is another to watch, too. This is nothing new (to me). - Mona Nomura

here is how i see it - 1 ) consumerism based on credit write -offs = NOT GOOD 2 ) govt.s ( like the US and the UK govt ) issueing credit notes dependent on a workforce out of work, dependent on brands that arent solvent, dependent on home prices that nobody can afford, isnt only plain crazy, it is suicidal -- TARP and the entire stimuls package is life - support to a body that has essentially poisoned parts of itself, what was Lehman brothers thinking when they lent capital which it knew it would not recover for the next 30 years ? ( pls go to onlinevideoconferenceandcollaboration.com - i have posted a video about this there ) ... how DUMB can you be to lend money knowing the people borrowing it are just about going to manage to repay the interest each month ? you might surmise - very dumb - but not in case you are a Lehman brothers broker that bundled 1000s of these TOXIC loans into a package that some mis informed and short - sighted partner was going to by from you -- the buyers were even going to de-ri - atul abraham from twhirl

post cut short - thats cool - Detlef, just use google its all out there, thnx, - atul abraham from twhirl

The US govt. are a bunch of morons. I'm still stuck on WHY they approved a bail-out for AIG. They have 10is subsidiaries they could've sold off. And what's going on with small businesses? No love for them, either. Whatever - I choose not to care since they're so dumb it's annoying. - Mona Nomura

The US (and perhaps other countries) has been living well beyond our means for nearly 30 years. No one quite understands how the advent of easy credit and a "me, now" culture has created a massive ponzi scheme of our own making. One Trillion dollars in US revolving debt! It's simply not sustainable and the tipping point has finally come. Stimulus is like spitting into a hurricane. This is going to take years, not months. - AJ Kohn

AJ - it's what our country was built on. We're a capitalistic society filled with the "me me me" mentality. - Mona Nomura

@Mona: True. But we didn't give that society the ability to indulge in "me me me" until the late 70s. Credit Cards, easy credit and lower taxes all created an army of Gordon Geckos who believed over-extending was the new American way. - AJ Kohn

RIght - so it's intertwined. It's only natural to be greedy and only a matter of time until those desires were enabled. Reagan was one of the worst things to happen to this country. Opening up trade? Are you kidding me? Ugh, I'm sorry but I have to hide this thread. Thinking about this is going to ruin my day. - Mona Nomura

@aj: actually, as i understand it, credit cards are just the encapsulation of a concept that began right after WWII: buying things on "time." in order to get the economy going again after the war, banks and retailers introduced this concept. before then, other than homes, people didn't usually buy things unless they could pay in cash. the credit card just simplified this buy now, pay later process...which is now abused. - .LAG liked that

@ LAG: teh way to kick start the " world economy " post WW2 was to make massive consumerism easier, it wasnt just credit, it was malls coming to your bakyard, it was instant shipping, it was Asian sweatshops, it was Africas un ending need for weaponary leading to massive defence contracts, ... it was a blunt thrust at world dominance that American Inc. screwed up royally : ). WMDs in Iraq and all. - atul abraham from twhirl

@atul... i agree: making mass consumerism easier was the post WWII goal. and i think that the massive financial problems that we're dealing with right now ask the next question: what do you do after mass consumerism stops working? i won't completely blame America for this: the leaders in your Asias and Africas and Iraqs, and elsewhere, are equally complicit. - .LAG liked that

@ .LAG - to me its very simple - a Vietnamese or Indian, or Chinese software programmer ( my profession ) will not only charge 10 % of a programmer in the EU ( where i live and work ) but also TRULY kick ass. helping Asia and Africas´ poorer parts to compete internationally will lay the foundation for a new generation of companies that do " micro-profits " for each employee, not massive gains for the board alone, America has almost always rewarded the brave, it is now tiem to ask - What does the rest of the world expect and reward. - atul abraham from twhirl

errata : time, PS : its half past 8 pm here, i have a Monday that starts at 5 am tmrw. saving the wolds ass has GOT to wait. good night. - atul abraham from twhirl

our society is based on debt, what did they think would happen? don't borrow money you don't have, simple. - Adam Singer

Get rid of fractional reserve banking... move to full reserve banking..issue greenbacks to grow the economy without increasing debt. Printing money at the same time you raise the reserve requirement for banks to lend money from 10% to 100% cancels out the risk of hyperinflation. - Patty Seybold

that Putin-on-white-horse-in-Davos story ... puhleeeeeeeeese... ask mr.Khodorkovsky, he will tell you rest-of-story - right after (and IF ever) gets out, stripped from billion estate... - A. T.

he's right - Bob Sonin

@postlinearity so there's no hope for US economy then? Millions aren't likely to change unless in face of major catastrophe... economic or some other kind. - andrei_c