Social Network

Where to begin? Well let’s start by correcting previous headlines about the automakers getting their loan. They haven’t quite gotten the loan yet. In the words of Nancy Pelosi, “Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money.” The “plan” is information congress has requested from the chief executives of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, detailing how they intend to use the money they are asking for to turn their companies around.

This situation is largely responsible for the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at 7,552.29 points today, and for the S & P Index reaching an 11½ year low.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has called the crisis a “once or twice” in a 100 years event. He is quoted as blaming the situation on:

“government inaction and mistaken actions, outdated U.S. and global financial regulatory systems, and by the excessive risk-taking of financial institutions.”

Jobs are being cut all over the place. Rolls Royce is cutting jobs, Boeing is cutting jobs; first-time unemployment benefit filings have reportedly “shot up to their highest level since July 1992″. Things are starting to look quite desperate for the US and world economies.

• Dow closes below 8000
• The auto companies get their loan
• Circuit City files for bankruptcy
• Is Natalee Holloway still alive?
• Apparently Karolina Kurkova doesn’t have a belly button