obama birthdate:

4 August 1961

BARACK OBAMA IS A LATE BABY BOOMER. THE BOOM WANT FROM 1946 TO 1964, THE YEAR OF BARACK OBAMA'S BIRTH.

You and media folks have stated that Barack Obama is not a baby boomer. This is not true. He's a late baby boomer. The boom went from 1946 to 1964.

Edward/17 -- that's some etc.!

As a person who's been living solely on SSDI for the past 3 years I have to admit that the effect of these financial disasters has not affected me much. The rise in food prices has but that independent of this. I think I can say this situation might even be to some small extent beneficial to me because some prices may come down and my income is static so prices coming down would be good for me. Simple economics, I guess.

The way to stop the financial disaster is to stop killing human beings in abortion, etc., and to be just. If we get the life issues correct, other things will fall into place. If we don't have a just society, we will not last.

I´d like to ask Prof. Sachs if Spain should attend the meeting organized by George W. Bush on november, 15th and why.

At what point to does the IMF run out of money and what then?

what did prof sachs learn from the 97-2000 asian crisis that applies to this situation?

We haven't see the effects yet. This financial crisis is like a Tsunami.

The earthquake has taken place and now we should brace our selves for a colossal tidal wave.

I have read one opinion that the reason for the strength of the dollar and yen is that hedge funds have to cover margins and other borrowing taken in yen and USD. Once that has come to an end (or the hedge funds have collapsed) the dollar should again decline because of fundamentals. What is Dr. Sachs' opinion?

Mr. Sachs "shock therapy" didn't worked so well in the former Soviet Union in the 90s. All I can say is caveat emptor.

hugh: google HIID

While a fast appreciation of the dollar may not be good, right now, we get further from a dollar rout, which would be catastrophic.

Hungary has been running a huge deficit... and Hungarians borrowed in SWISS FRANCS to pay their mortgages (this makes subprime look like peanuts).

Brazil has been more diligent and a fall in their currency won't be as sustained.

Could Mr. Sachs comment on the development of his own political thinking? I remember him sounding a great deal more conservative in the 80s. (Among other things, giving a Polish audience a harsh reality check on unemployment of the shock economics of post-Soviet times.)

(& this would be the correction.)

prof sachs: at what point would you say this "story" began? 2000? 1992? 2007?

only thing i learned from this period is that this really is a zero sum game.

long a third-world matter of fact and finally washing up onto America's shores: your neighbor getting poorer is the new rich.

so the crisis really was, simply, too many people got rich.

WHAT economic crisis? I invite you to take the tour that I did last weekend in Northern California, where the number of brand new SUVs with brand-new dealer plates being driven by lacrosse moms was enough to make you wonder:
Are these people delusional,
or,
Is their net worth so vast that losing half of it in the market doesn't actually affect their household budget? (If your net worth was 4 billion, and you're down to 2, but SUVs are on sale, you buy SUV's with 15 mpg. Brilliant.)
Where they think they're going to get the gas is another issue. I had one darling blond suburban mom, fiftyish, with two small kids, tell me that she thought Venezuela would "still sell oil to us" even if China got all (that's left) of the Iraqi oil.
The concept that we might need to conserve due to national security issues, or that it's more important to reserve petroleum for farms and infrastructure, oh, you know, JUST IN CASE, is decidedly politically incorrect among the wealthy set here.

Some Suggestions for "fixing the crisis":
1.Increase the capital gains loss from $3000 per year -should have happened years ago for inflation and other reasons - to at least $25,000.
2.Impose credit card interest rate caps and make the credit card companies share their "bubble" wealth, diverting part of the revolvers' compulsory spending and/or interest savings allowing stimulation of other parts of the economy - not just the bubble blowers' pockets. I am not a revolver. See past Boston Legal t.v.episode...very eloquent, insightful & concise.
3.Business Takes its lumps - devalue the properties on banks'/etc.books, determine an "appropriate" fixed interest rate (no ARMs), collect something vs nothing and move forward. 4.Mandate that the CPA firms/state societies/AICPA/"top" business schools must help/submit suggestions and or critique the government's TARP-try & look for objective checks & balances from somewhere...if it ever or still exists.

The U.S. and the world have been ENRONIZED...manipulated & bamboozled again by the same players and more...politicians, regulators (or lack there of), investment banking/banking/mtge institutions, corporations and their collective trickle down theory of Marketing, not economics. Prior to the Bailout/TARP vote, all "Leaders", Congressional Members & the public should have been required to watch & discuss "The Smartest Guys in the Room" movie, as a tutorial. I believe Aesop & the youth, in H.C.A.'s story, about the Emporer with no clothes, would concur that the foxes are in the hen houses.