Debbie, I feel exactly the same way. I am an NPR junkie, but I don't listen during the day anymore because it's all they talk about. I can't listen passively and accomplish work at the same time because listening to the discussion totally stresses me out.

Debbie. Let me join the club! Yes, this is the most important issue. But no, I can hardly bring myself to look at it anymore!

We need to name our syndrome.

Financial Meltdown Fatigue? FMF for short?

I am usually forced to begin all my comments with:

I do not know how to solve the banking crisis in this country.

Because I don't. I read Dr. Reich and Dr. Krugman because they are liberals, they usually write and speak in English, they are not afraid of repubs, and they believe that government should have a social agenda.

Otherwise:

The End.

Refreshingly honest and very original; on the subject of the economy, everyone has an opinion and it's rarely their own.

I am going to confess the same thing. I tried. I really did. I couldn't figure out what was going on myself so I looked for somebody to explain it to me clearly. A few attempted, but I'm so dense about the subject, it was of no use.

So, this is the conclusion I came to: NOBODY knows what is going on with the economy. If they knew, an understandable explanation to the masses wouldn't be so elusive. All the experts have are best guesses.

I have reached the point where I am basing my outlook on a few realities.

92% of us still are working at jobs. (Yeah, I know about reduced work hours and low wages.)

Autos are still rolling off assembly lines.(Slooowly)

People are still buying cars. (About half as many as last year, but they're buying!)

Farmers will plant crops in the spring.

Farmers will harvest in the fall.

Kids will need new shoes for school in 6 months.

Machines grind to a halt, but human beings don't. We're alive. We're vital. We're gonna keep on keeping on regardless of what the economy does.

We just have to keep an eye on one another so no 93 year old veteran doesn't freeze to death in his own home again.

I'm waiting it out, because that's the only thing I can figure out to do.

I think Josh posted a pretty-good explanation of our fiasco at TPM. What he didn't mention is the fact that those who have created the chaos have been chosen to calm the storm. Those who screwed us do not limit themselves to screwing the middle class. They, also, maintain a bevy of whores in Washington, D.C.. Debbie...Tell me you didn't vote for King! I wish Grassley and King would quit identifying with Iowa this or Iowa that. Call me a hay seed living in the fly-over zone, but don't identify me with "them!"

I agree with you, debbie, and the others that this is too complex to really know what needs to be done to correct it. On the economics end, I tend to put my faith in Krugman, Reich and others who I feel have the same worldview as I (or close to it). It's really all I can do.

What becomes really apparent, however, is that so much of the problem is worsened by the lack of confidence in the people. For this, I think we all need to somehow gain some perspective, even if it is to understand that there is only ONE person in the whole world who is worse off than anybody else on the planet, and chances are pretty good that I'm not it.

At risk of an accusation of self-promotion, I point out a blog essay I recently did on the topic, here. It's probably the closest I can come to making recommendation on how we might best confront this challenge.

It is not that difficult on the surface. Our economy hitched its star to a weak dollar and rising asset values. Complex instruments were created to maximize gains which in turn maximized risk. The credit rating on these instruments were artificially minted. It was a ponzi scheme, and the net value of wealth at risk if the pyramid crumbed is worth around 300% of the combined real wealth of the entire world.

Now the dollar is strengthening and values are diminishing. Those who are owed money from these imploding instruments are going to purchase assests hand over fist and will thrive in this environment of suffering.

You ahould understand and be angry. Do not turn your mind off. To do so is to pay attention to shadow instead of substance.

So what exactly do you call a problem that is so big that it could destroy everything but no one knows what it is? It is big, everyone agrees on that. But no one knows how big. If you ask them “How big” then they start to talk. Then someone disagrees and they start to argue. Then others join in, saying things about how big parts of “it” are without saying what “it” is. This just adds confusion because the people who talk about the parts can’t tell you how many parts “it” has. If you listen to this conversation “it” gets bigger then smaller then bigger again and on and on. Makes you wonder if “it” is incorporeal.

There are experts on the structures of things of course and they will have their say. Some say “it” is big, some say “It is really big” and some say “It is unimaginably big.” If you press them as to what to call “it” they say “Well it is a problem,” which is not helpful at all.

Ordinary people talk about “it” too. They mostly say that “it” is a problem but they really don’t have any idea what to do about it. For them “it’ is a problem that does not appear to have a solution, kind of like a coin that has only one side. Of course ordinary people should not be expected to necessarily know the answer to my question but they do need an answer. This need creates a lot of ideas about things that may or may not be relevant because they don’t know what “it” is.

So again, “What exactly do you call a problem that is so big that it could destroy everything but no one knows what it is?”

Ask Captain Smith I guess. You know, the captain of the Titanic.

Read Krugman, Debbie. He's very clear and will give you other sources that are clear. Actually, part of the reason Obama's administration is being vague about some things is that they are trying to unscramble some of what is going on also. But don't believe you can't grasp this situation. Always rely on yourself to critically think things through. If more Americans had been able to do that over the years we'd be in a lot better shape and not have been bamboozled about Vietnam, Reagan, WMD, etc.

Hey, Deb, it's ok for one of us to stick our head in the sand, but when the government does it, the Wall Street book-cookers take advantage.

One thing no one says often enough is that this mess didn't come from your normal, everyday economic business, it came from unregulated money-grubbing no-bid book-cookers who gamed the system, and even paid the dealer to deal them all aces, and still they are losing.

If our watchdog agencies had been watching and using even those little baby teeth they had for enforcement, none of this would have happened.

But we have a DC infected by K-Street and K-Street is managed by Wall Street and Wall Street is run by liars, sneaks and cheaters.

With a chain of command like that, it is no wonder our house is divided.

Seriously, had the Bush era watchdogs not so willingly buried their own heads in the sand, we would not be facing this impending crisis, at least not in the world-economy-devastating version we see today.