For those who are having a little trouble figuring it all out

Wonkette nails it - Economics 101, kids:

1) A lot of banks made bad housing loans. A lot of financial people bought up these bad loans. A lot of people insured these bad loans. Add several more layers on a global scale.

2) Housing prices fell.

3) Much wealth was lost.

This actually happened, and it has a lot to do with why we’re digging into a deep global recession! On Wall Street, this means asset values… drop! They drop and drop and drop, because no one has much money or credit, and then everyone sells because they’re going to keep dropping dropping dropping. And then when the Dow has dropped 800 points, Wall Street says to itself, “Whoa, 800’s a lot, so now we buy shit?” So it only ends down 350 points — manageable! — and people pretend for another day that maybe our economy won’t contract during a recession, definitions and comeuppance be damned.

... more after the click.

I guess the question now is who knew what and when did they know it?

A good buddy was reassuring. He said the market ALWAYS comes back.

Cramer, on Mad Money, says figure out how much money you're going to need over the next five years and get it the hell out of the market. I found that somewhat less reassuring ...

Can you spell "depression"? I know I'm depressed.