and been going on for seven years, but the astounding run of "luck" has turned south for these ne'er do wells. Rush Limbaugh thinks that entitlements will be the issue of the election come fall. Might be, but not for the reasons he and the neocons believe.

The bill collector has arrived.

I have felt for a number of years that the economic "miracle" in China itself is just a bubble.   They are heavily dependent on US consumers buying lots of cheap consumer crap.  Not entirely sustainable, so when the U.S. finally does look like it is heading into a recession then perhaps it is inevitable that markets in Asia take a big hit.

to China's economy for now, but actually the Chinese (and the Indians, too) have been giving signs they are turning inward to supply their own new domestic markets based on the rising middle class in their own economy, which will provide an enormous market even larger than that of the U.S. Therefore, the US market is becoming a little less important to China's incredible growth, and will become less important as time goes on... we will no longer be the unique queen bee in the world economy.

These are the first steps in making the 21st century the Chinese century; futurists believe that by 2050 (or earlier) China will be not only the largest and strongest economy in the world by every measure, but the strongest military power.  Thank you, Mr. Bush, what else have you done for us lately? While you are so pre-occupied with Iraq and rag-tag terrorists, a different tiger is coming over the hill, sewing up the world's resources even in our own back yard (example: China has signed oil and trade agreements with Canada), grabbing markets, and preparing to put us in our place.

appears to be that "the U.S. stimulus (package) is too little, too late and investors feel it won't help the economy recover."

I completely agree.  As I said the other day, there are fundamental, structural problems in the US economy that need to be addressed.  Throwing money at people is like giving an adrenaline shot to a patient sick with heart disease, cancer, or pneumonia.  It's worse than irrelevant, frankly.

Totally normal.  This will hurt, but its a totally normal fluctuation.

Good thing its now during Bush rather than next year under A democrat.

The largest banking crisis since the S&L scandal of the 1980s and you call this normal?  I think you are way understating the crisis.  Companies with less than triple A ratings are have had trouble issuing commercial paper.  It remains to be seen whether the credit crunch is over.  BOA gobbled up Countrywide, Citibank posted more losses, it takes time for accountants and financial analysts to sort through all that mess so we can report it.  The banks and mortgage lenders set up this really complicated chain of financial transactions, and it is going to take more than just a couple of months to know the full extent of the problem.  Not all of the ARMs have reset yet.  Even with Enron it took a good deal of time to uncover the extent of their financial calamity.

I'm glad you're positive, but besides the economist at the National Association of Realtors no one is certain that we have hit a bottom.

Its normal because People are not perfect. They will lie cheat and steal.They will succumb to greed and fear.
Knowing this, our republican overlords have created a kleptocracy. They have absconded with billions, stuffed it under the pillow, and will get back into the market at some future time. I remember the 22% loss during reagon-times.
In one day. that was republican theft too, but we survived.

Why has my interferon gone from 30$ in 2007 to 300$ co-pay in 2008? Republicans

Why has gasoline gone from 95 cents/gallon to 330/gallon during Bush #2??
Republicans