It’s true, I saws it on the internets.

via Dkos

A DKos diarist takes a look at the month the financial calamity began to begin the ‘first drafts of history’. For those who don’t want to read the entire thing, here’s some of the meat from the conclusion:

American consumers sustained two massive shocks as a result of Black September.  First, their confidence was shattered not just by news of corporate collapses, including sensationalistic reports that they were newly responsible for trillions of dollars’ worth of mortgages, but more importantly by the magnification of those collapses by the public figures (the President, the Treasury Secretary, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Senators and Members of Congress) in statements that quite plainly advised Americans that imminent panic over the fate of the entire economy was a proper reaction.  And panic American consumers did, as millions of households listened to a President’s speech telling them that the End was Imminent, and then had sober discussions over the kitchen table in which they decided to drastically pull back on discretionary spending, literally overnight.

Full Article Here

Thats the quote from the guy (Bernard Madoff) who defrauded his hedge fund investors of $50 BILLION.

I would posit that the same can be said for the rest of the current economic downturn.

…seen from Wall Street as it happened [Portfolio.com].

It’s an informative narrative.

Found via a Dkos diary

Market seems to be doing what markets do…correcting.

From AP/Yahoo!

According to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, Wednesday’s paper losses amounted to about $600 billion. By that measure, the stock market has shed $9.1 trillion since the index’s Oct. 9, 2007, peak.

This is coming some from the news that the US Treasury isn’t doing what it originally said it was going to do. I guess they’re on the ‘Change’ bandwagon?

Past, present and future, reality is shaped by our ability to communicate with each other. While in the past our national (and international) infrastructure has been built to withstand or recover from some harsh and unexpected events, such as natural disasters, there is a significant weakness in our system of thought on these matters: pandemics. So the FCC and Big Telco had a little talk about just that.

I want to write/think more on this, but workload doesn’t really permit currently. I’d love to hear other’s thoughts.

Read this whole thing if you need to start understanding what’s happening in the financial markets and another reason to be anti-McCain.

Just read below if you want the kicked-in-the-genitals part:

How big did this market become? Here’s business correspondent Bob Moon and host Kai Ryssdal on American Public Media’s Marketplace from back in the spring.

BOB MOON: OK, I’m about to unload some numbers on you here, so I’ll speak slowly so you can follow this.

The value of the entire U.S. Treasuries market: $4.5 trillion.

The value of the entire mortgage market: $7 trillion.

The size of the U.S. stock market: $22 trillion.

OK, you ready?

The size of the credit default swap market last year: $45 trillion.

KAI RYSSDAL: That’s a lot of money, Bob.

As in three times the whole US gross domestic product, Bob. And the truth is that Moon probably underestimated. The unregulated and poorly reported credit default swaps may have actually passed $70 trillion last year, or about $5 trillion more than the GDP of the entire world.

40,000 Cubic Feet Per Second

That is what the Coralville Reservoir will be outputting by the peak of this now conclusively historic flood. The scene is strange: sandbags everywhere, the slow creep of the river towards ground I walk over every day, the backup of traffic due to road and bridge closings. And we still have a week to go until the crest.

It’s hard to work during this time, especially with this view out the window:

All University staff located along the river have been asked to “decide which materials you would want to have with you if you are unable to access your office for several weeks.” Thought I’d throw that in just in case you thought “It can’t be that bad…”

And from a Co-worker’s family member, here’s a picture of Downtown Cedar Rapids, specifically 3rd Avenue:

Qwest’s main CO for East Central Iowa is located in this area and is now shut down, so Internet is down for all customers in the region. Not a good time for a web developer.

I will try to keep updating as I am able. For the picture people, the Gazette has tons. So does the Press-Citizen.

The IC/Coralville area is under siege from rising water, with the ante upping tonight as waters top the spillway at the Coralville Dam.

Here are some interesting links:

RiverCam of the coffer dam from Facilities Management at the UI.

Waters to top spillway at midnight – Press Citizen

Iowa City: Reservoir will top spillway at midnight – Des Moines Register

Looking Alot like ’93 – Daily Iowan

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I’ll try to post more as I find it.

While you weren’t looking, people were deciding.

Via Digg