Understanding the US Financial Crisis for Dummies

Last month, I posted something about the fall of Lehman Brothers (Red Arrows and Red Blood). This entry would be a sequel to that one.

For the past month, it had become a routine to turn on the TV and switch the channel to CNN, Channel News Asia, BBC or Bloomberg. Honestly I really tried to digest everything I hear from the news about the economy, but only when sports news are shown on CNN do I stop my nose from bleeding. I really can’t figure out why a whole country like Iceland can file for bankruptcy? Or where does the money go, do they burn cash literally? With these odd stupid questions in my mind, I started to look for sources on the internet to help myself in understanding the financial crisis. A simple googling solved the problem.

If you want a lengthy explanation from the source of the problem to the probable solutions, you can go to Obstinate Observations. If you want a very practical explanation for dummies in Tagalog go to Red Arrows and Red Blood. If you want a visual explanation, you can go to the Financial Times. However I was not relieved by this graphic explanation because some heavy finance jargon were still there. I still looked for something that you can show to a 12-year old, an 80-year old, or to someone like me who all the while thought that my three units of accounting only covered addition and subtraction and make him understand, I would recommend How To Explain The 2008 US Financial Crisis to your Kids (and Most Adults) by Say it Visually. It also comes with Spanish subtitles too.

BTW, I’m also inviting you to join a get-together on Understanding the US Financial Crisis by Fernand Tansingco. Go to http://www.mayniladstudycenter.net/ for more details.

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