BuzzFeed
economic breakdown
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Video: The American Economy In Two Minutes
Finally, an economist that understands the Internet only has an attention span of under three minutes. Of course, now I'm just feeling sad and impotent. But informed! (via pragcap.com)
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Link: Home Construction Fails to Lift Recovery
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_...
![[link]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png)
Homebuilders are sending a message: They won't be able to contribute much to the economic recovery now that government home-buying incentives have vanished.
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Image: Meat Cards
The business card that's also a snack. The idea is to use lasers to burn your contact info into beef jerky. Lasers. “Unlike other business cards, MEAT CARDS will retain value after the econopocalypse. Hoard and barter your calorie-rich, life-sustaining cards.”
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Stanford L. Kurland Is A Genius Asshole
Business Buzz Kurland, former No. 2 at mortgage company Countrywide, is now raking in the dough by buying up failed mortgages. His story kind of boggles the mind.
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Fixing the Economy with Ayn Rand
Business Buzz The polarizing philosopher and dating-site-sponsor has all the solutions to your economic woes. Or she is to blame! It depends on whether you believe in Free Trade with a capital FT, courtesy of Alan Greenspan. You could also believe that she is responsible for inflating the egos of all the day traders who got us into this mess, but that's not really a solution. So let's go with Option A.
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Image: Yes We Canned
This is the official logo of the recently laid off and the formerly hopeful. Brought to you by ASSME, the American Society for Shitcanned Media Elites, a “support organization for newly downsized members of the magazine, newspaper, book publishing, advertising, TV and web industries.”
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Foreclosure Skateboarding
Sports Buzz The only upside to California's high foreclosure rate: A huge surge in the number of abandoned pools skateboarders can take over. The NY Times reports on how skateboarders around Fresno are finding and draining the pools of recently foreclosed houses, turning them into skate parks.
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Image: Russians Predict End of US
The Kremlin has embraced a Russian professor's annual prediction of America's demise. Professor Panarin believes that “an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S.” and Russia's state media is happy to propagate his beliefs. I hope the second Cold War comes with a Space Race and a snazzy soundtrack like the last one.
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Link: What Happened in Iceland
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123032660060735767.html#p...
The Wall Street Journal has a great story on how the global financial crisis caused Iceland's entire economy to collapse. Poor Bjork!
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Image: Mortgage Bonus Breakdown
The NYT examines the role that bonuses played in the financial breakdown. This chart compares the bonuses in the fixed-income division of Merrill Lynch to its profits as a whole. Summary: it pays to totally fuck up the financial system.
