We have the Freddy, Fannie, IndyMac bank issue. We have former CountryWide bank officials pouring their guilty hearts out on MSNBC to tell us they wrote "liar loans." There is widespread pandemonium in the markets, as everyone everywhere is trying to make a quick buck. there is trouble reaching as far as Dubai, with it's .49 a gallon gas, but higher food and other bills equalizing the costs of living.

No economy is immune. Europe achieved its growth goals...near zero at 1.7% or less, which means people are dying of old age faster than newborn future taxpayers can take over. With their value added taxes and government medicine programs, that means a strain far worse than what we project for Social Security. the same thing is also beginning to occur in other nations, regardless of population growth in India, Pakistan, and Asia.

Many countries are experiencing food and water shortages, riots, and the deaths of many innocent people. Their corpses are left in the streets, because it is too dangerous to retrieve them. This will ultimately lead to illness for many of the residents.

And, here we sit watching the theatre sized TV screen in our private Home Theatre, complete with the popcorn machine, snack bar, and cushy stacked movie style seats,  with built in massage.

Yes, we are in the middle of ad and apparently unstoppable business blunders in the financial community. We have replaced gratitude with greed, and want for need. We are an ungrateful lot. We no longer acknowledge God, whom we claim to trust. We have ignored the Founding Fathers' injunctions against being rash to make changes in the Constitution. We have kicked the proper discipline and order of worship form schools, and teach children that we descended from slime mold. All of the underpinnings of what have made the U.S.A. a great nation and one worthy of respect are slowing being eroded, and we all sit idly by. We will make someone the leader of our country over rhetoric we fail to substantiate. We let some be above the law, and others gain celebrity for breaking the law.

Sorry, I just read the news. I know I should never write an article after reading the news. in fact doctors have proven that reading the news can cause clinical depression, despair, and acts of violence. Pardon me while I walk next door to beat the neighbor's dog, because I don't have one. I am entitled to beat dogs, because their barking is offensive. It's my right, and nobody is taking it away from me.

If you have  read this far, you are wondering what the point is to all of this cynicism. You who have read m past pieces know me (I hope) to be somewhat level-headed, and mostly positive and even on occasion funny. Why the Dark Knight?

Fear not. I am still positive, and am still encouraged, despite all of the bad press these days. We have a rough road to recovery. It is almost like walking again. As a nation, we will feel the shock of these events as each ripples through us and we become jaded and disillusioned. Still, we will come through this, just as we did in '29, '55, '69, '74,and ' 84. It may not be comfortable to admit we gave the Fed too much power, and expected too little of the people we voted for, or expected too much of others, but we will find a way to get through it.

One of the things we will have to do is become a domestic producer, again. We need to make our goods, employ people, and put more cash flow inside the economy to strengthen it. We'll have to forgo balance of trade a bit, find our own oil, and return to a commodity (gold-backed)  insured monetary system. We need to create new technologies to put power on the grids from each U.S. home, and end the drain on coal and oil for energy production. We also need to provide grants and credits for individuals as well as companies to develop new methods for generating home heating and other electricity, without so much reliance on power companies, and the waste incurred transmitting power over long distances.

Water systems can be designed better, too. Packing materials can be made, which will do less damage to the environment, if we want to make them so. Don't get me wrong. I don't support Al Gore's thoughts. I think that he is, in fact and in principle dead wrong. I believe most climate events are as cyclic as the seasons themselves. things that affect the environment include shifts in the flow of the jet streams, and the tilt of the Earth on its axis. It isn't just the belch from the tailpipes. still, we can eliminate the use of hydrocarbons in transportation, and improve air quality easily with a retrofit device, and by building cars that don't need heavy, energy-draining batteries Personally I would like to see vehicles running on single malt whiskey. I could then drive home from work, and stick a straw in the tank for an afternoon shot.

What the really inconvenient truth is boils down to irresponsibility, and unaccountability. We, as a nation want entitlement, which is the denigration of the person, as it allows them to and encourages them to be unproductive. We also have a problem of rights sans responsibilities. Our leaders fail to tell the truth and are praised for it. when they tell the truth, as they know it they are run out of town on a rail. The truth spells out the problems we are lazy and averse to hearing. The lies, like drugs mask the pain of the truth, but leave the wound festering. In the end, if the infection is not contained, the patient will lose limbs.

Here is something to learn from. The Federal Reserve publishes many document that discuss finance. I found this article on ARM loans