Looks back at the causes of the financial meltdown and poor recovery

[A Listener]

As we enter the new year, and a new Congress which appears bent on undoing whatever regulations are left on Wall Street is about to go into session, here is a a look back on the mess we were in in 2009 when Obama took office, and proved to be the wrong man for the job.


Below is a link to Matt Taiibi's article, "The Big Takeover', which contains an excellent, irreverent, somewhat profane review of what happened, and why, (and why it was unlikely that anything useful would be done about it). The article was originally published in "Rolling Stone."

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2...t-insiders-are-using-bailout-stage-revolution
　
Another look back is at Federick Kaufman’s article in Harper’s from several years back, which sets forth in short form the results of his investigation of the commoditization and financialization of the global food supply. This is serious business, as we can analogize from Taiibi’s article on the hole blown in the world economy by the financialization of the housing market in the 2000's.

http://frederickkaufman.typepad.com/files/the-food-bubble-pdf.pdf
　
　

 

[Polly Parrot]

Care to elaborate and share your own view on the matter?

I changed the title to lower case to make it look rather less shouty.

 

[Conscious Bob]

There is of course a much wider global effect, no doubt you've seen plenty of charity advertising usually some poor kid in a third world country with the tagline 'you can change his/her life for as little as ten bucks a month'. That kid needs your money because the financial corporations manipulating the world food markets have robbed him/her blind...