-[snip]-

Explain all of that to the guy who lost his job, not because the company he worked for couldn't make a profit in the American market, but because they could make a bigger one if they outsourced his job to Malaysia. The economic problem in this country I feel is largely fueled by greed. Is there less money in the world to be had all of a sudden? Are poor people in other countries suddenly doing better because the U.S. job market took a dive? It seems to me that money pools at the top and when money flows faster to those who have lots of it that creates a problem for those of us nearer the bottom. Why did the housing market dive? Greedy people making risky financial gambles who were unwilling to take on any of the risk associated with those gambles. Housing market dives, financial institutions take a hit, businesses in turn are hurt, but all those people who were playing fast and loose with their money still have plenty of it. They just shifted the risk down the chain a bit. And when the huge numbers of little guys take a little of the burden each, even though it's a lot more to them than to the big guys, everybody blames it on "the economy" and it seems less sinister. We are the economy. If you have a single cent then you are part of the economy. But the rich keep getting richer. The oil companies keep raising prices and posting record profits. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet seem to be doing okay. Drug companies still have the doors open. I don't see any guys with signs saying "will trade futures for food". The money is still there. The rich guys are just being more careful about how they move it around.

Okay. That was an emotionally charged rant. You can disregard most or all of it. It probably was loaded with factual and theoretical errors. But it feels better having said it.

Mich-yep, still here-ael