Neil Young's latest music video addresses the financial crisis head-on. That is exactly how I read my WSJ everyday. Uncanny.

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The Best Links:

1. Alex Pareene: Neil Young for Treasury Secretary

Artist Jota Castro perfectly captures the moment with an installation utilizing rolled dollar bills. And it has nothing to do with drugs.

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You'll never guess. Gerry Pasciucco (formerly of Morgan Stanley) currently heads AIG's disgraced Financial Products division (yup, the one that caused all that trouble). I can't decide whether this is humorously ironic or frighteningly deluded.

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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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The Best Links:

1. America’s Most Hated
2. Creep of the Week: PennyMac’s Stanford L. Kurland
3. Ex-Countrywide Leaders Profit on Loans Gone Bad

“Buddy, we're with AIG.” Yeah, no cause for concern.

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Link: http://www.time.com/time/business/art...

Those smug bastards over at Time magazine have drawn up a list of the ten major newspapers most likely to go under or go digital very soon. Topping the list is the Philadelphia Daily News , which nobody reads anyway (I'm from Philly), but some non-second-rate papers included on the list are the Chicago Sun-Times and the Boston Globe , which is reportedly losing $1 million each week.

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Celebrate the financial crisis and the fat-cats who are getting away with it with a shiny new “kleptocracy” T-shirt. If you can afford it.

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Circuit City is going out of business and EVERYTHING MUST GO. Looks like you can get a great deal on basic neurosurgery!

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The Best Links:

1. Image Shows Circuit City Employees Still Have Their Sense of Humor (Dignity is 0.2% Off)
2. Circuit City Scoreboard Shows Why They’re Shutting Down
3. Best Buy Sarcasm [PIC]
4. Circuit City Bankruptcy
5. Circuit City Closes
6. Circuit City Discounts

The short and simple story of the credit crisis. This is the thesis work of Jonathan Jarvis, a student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and reminds me of that great This American Life episode from last fall. It's kinda fun to watch.

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The Best Links:

1. The Short and Simple Story of the Credit Crisis
2. This is How We Got Into This Mess
3. The Crisis of Credit Visualized
4. My Favorite Part — the Depiction of a Subprime Mortgage (it’s at About 7:30)

Curious how bad it really is? As the “green line of doom” shows us, pretty freakin' bad.

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Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2207067/

“The Cruise persona, like a junk bond, was never meant to reach maturity.” This article is actually more interested in how the market explains Tom Cruise's dwindling career, but how great do feel about your portfolio when you think about it in terms of War of the Worlds ?

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Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12303...

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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An illustration of the difference in price (adjusted for inflation) between government spending on the bailout and …other huge stuff. In other words, we're doomed.

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Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-an...

A philosophical comparison between Oprah's massive weight gain and America's financial crisis. If Oprah represents the credit crunch, does that make Steadman George W. Bush? (Because, you see, both are nowhere to be found.)

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The Best Links:

1. Oprah Winfrey Weighs in at Over 200 Pounds! - Featured on Buzzfeed
2. Oprah Fat Again - Featured on Buzzfeed

BUSINESS BUZZ: The dreamy CEO of Merrill Lynch has been forced out by Bank of America. He kind of had it coming after that $10 million bonus debacle, but he will always be the “Cutest Villain of the Financial Crisis” in my heart.

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The Best Links:

1. Thain resigns, effective immediately
2. Thain resigns from Bank of America
3. John Thain’s Expense Report
4. This $87,000 rug probably didn’t help matters
5. CNBC: Thain will not receive bonus
6. NY Atty Gen freaks out at request
7. Thain’s Trophy Wife requests $10 million
8. Thain spars with Bank of America board
9. Bank of America’s aquisition deal has already been approved
10. The New Yorker says he deserves it
11. Thain’s bonus request to be heard today
12. John Thain continues to be hot
13. the Decline and Fall of John Thain
14. Hank Paulson is Hot - Featured on BuzzFeed

Link: http://mcsweeneys.net/2008/11/20tucke...

Ayn Rand's Objectivist tract gets updated for our current financial predicament. It's also more readable than Ayn herself.

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The Best Links:

1. Ayn Rand Personal Ads - Featured on BuzzFeed

CULTURE BUZZ: Another sign of tough economic times: Egg donations are on the rise. Women can make thousands of dollars for each donation, so this makes a creepy kind of sense. It’s like the family-friendly version of selling your body.

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The Best Links:

1. VIDEO: Good Morning America Reports Egg Donations on the Rise
2. Egg Donations Up In Weak Economy
3. More Women Are Selling Their Eggs To Make Ends Meet

Link: http://www.google.com/trends/hottrend...

Everyone is searching Google for a scary financial term - “Limit Down” - which basically means people are betting the future for the stock market is as depressing as legally allowed. The futures market for the S&P 500 shut down because it went so low, hitting the limit down or the “The maximum amount by which the price of a commodity futures contract may decline in one trading day.”

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The Best Links:

1. Definition of “Limit Down”
2. S&P 500 Futures Contract Down So Much Trading Is Suspended!

Link: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/...

AP: “Wall Street headed for another precipitous drop Friday as fears of a punishing global recession stirred panic among investors and sent world financial markets into a tailspin. The Dow Jones industrial average futures fell as much as 550 points, triggering a freeze in selling.” Basically people want to sell their stocks so much the market is just shut down. Crazy.

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Before Neel Kashkari was given $700 billion to save the world, he was a high school senior who loved AC/DC. Here’s his 1991 yearbook page. He’s also a fan of Shakespeare, football, and war in Iraq.

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The Best Links:

1. Neel ‘Ferrari’ Kashkari: The AC/DC Fan Who Controls Your Economic Destiny
2. Meet Neel Kashkari, “The $700 Billion Man” Who’s Trying to Rescue Wall Street
3. FYI We Are So Going to Be Obsessed With Neel Kashkari