Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[TimeForGuinness]

The market is down again. The collapse continues.

Actually, the market is behaving itself...profit-taking after a huge run-up is normal. And anything normal in this market is grounds for establishing a bottom. We'll see what happens after quarterly results are reported, but even if they are bad, I still think the market holds steady.

[Jocephus]

STRASBOURG, France — The president of the European Union on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as "a road to hell."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told the European Parliament that President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the liquidity of the global financial market."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/2 ... 78868.html

[Jocephus]

Krugman: Obama, Geithner Need to Do More to Boost Economy
End Wall Street's 'Sweet Deals' says Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Paul Krugman
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
ABC NEWS Business Unit
March 25, 2009

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/ ... 203&page=1

[KyCardinalFan]

Peter Schiff, "Dr. Doom", on Morning Joe explaining the recession is needed. I wish they had included the opening to this interview where they showed many clips from finance shows over the last couple of years warning about sub-prime mortgages. Schiff was usually shouted down by other panelists, namely Ben Stein, who said there was no problem with housing.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28159725/#29875591

I'm not happy about his continuing doom message, just because he's been right up to now.

[sighyoung]

Peter Schiff, "Dr. Doom", on Morning Joe explaining the recession is needed. I wish they had included the opening to this interview where they showed many clips from finance shows over the last couple of years warning about sub-prime mortgages. Schiff was usually shouted down by other panelists, namely Ben Stein, who said there was no problem with housing.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28159725/#29875591

I'm not happy about his continuing doom message, just because he's been right up to now.

Schiff adheres to the Austrian School of Economics, which is pretty laissez-faire--that is, he believes that recessions are normal parts of capitalist excesses, are necessary to correct them, and should be left alone to work themselves out.

He was right about the housing bubble, but his investment advice in light of the crash has been pretty bad, too.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. ... wrong.html

[PujolJunkie]

I'm really sorry to derail any kind of discussion going on, but I just found this.

Topic 357 - Tax Information for Parents of Kidnapped Children

You may claim a kidnapped child as your dependent if the following requirements are met:

1. The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or a member of the child's family, and
2. The child had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of kidnapping.

If both of these requirements are met, the child may meet the requirements for purposes of determining:

* The dependency exemption
* The child tax credit, and
* Head of household or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child filing status.

This tax treatment will cease to apply as of your first tax year beginning after the calendar year in which either there is a determination that the child is dead or the child would have reached age 18, whichever occurs first.

For more information, refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc357.html

I mean really?

[tscards]

Whatsup with the government planning on handing out about $1.6Mil in Bonuses this year, while running $1Tril or so in the red........

Does that really make sense? If the argument is to keep people....what about other companies... (not that I agree with the amounts that were handed out at AIG).

[Popeye_Card]

Whatsup with the government planning on handing out about $1.6Mil in Bonuses this year, while running $1Tril or so in the red........

Does that really make sense? If the argument is to keep people....what about other companies... (not that I agree with the amounts that were handed out at AIG).

I guess it depends on what these "bonuses" entail. Are they bonuses to normal workers? Are they signing bonuses for military? Are they big bonuses to politicians? Are the bonuses part of a normal pay structure for lower-salaried employees, awarded for safety, etc.? "The government" is huge, employing millions of people of all types and functions, so I'd have to hear what these bonuses are for.

[ghostrunner]

I'm really sorry to derail any kind of discussion going on, but I just found this.

Topic 357 - Tax Information for Parents of Kidnapped Children

You may claim a kidnapped child as your dependent if the following requirements are met:

1. The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or a member of the child's family, and
2. The child had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of kidnapping.

If both of these requirements are met, the child may meet the requirements for purposes of determining:

* The dependency exemption
* The child tax credit, and
* Head of household or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child filing status.

This tax treatment will cease to apply as of your first tax year beginning after the calendar year in which either there is a determination that the child is dead or the child would have reached age 18, whichever occurs first.

For more information, refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc357.html

I mean really?

That part in bold is ridiculous. Hopefully you get a decent cop on the case.

[Popeye_Card]

I'm really sorry to derail any kind of discussion going on, but I just found this.

Topic 357 - Tax Information for Parents of Kidnapped Children

You may claim a kidnapped child as your dependent if the following requirements are met:

1. The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of your family or a member of the child's family, and
2. The child had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of kidnapping.

If both of these requirements are met, the child may meet the requirements for purposes of determining:

* The dependency exemption
* The child tax credit, and
* Head of household or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child filing status.

This tax treatment will cease to apply as of your first tax year beginning after the calendar year in which either there is a determination that the child is dead or the child would have reached age 18, whichever occurs first.

For more information, refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc357.html

I mean really?

That part in bold is ridiculous. Hopefully you get a decent cop on the case.

As ridiculous as this all seems, they wouldn't have made these rules if people haven't tried to abuse the system.