First things first, let me say that I am a lucky, lucky boy. I have the completely unearned privilege of being able to constantly pique the near infinite knowledge of four people who have more intelligence than most other people you or I will ever meet... combined. They are really the only reason I can understand the mess that is going on in our country. Naturally, these people are Dr. Marieta Velikova (applied economics), Dr. John Gonas (finance), Dr. Regine Schwarzmeier (German, English, & American Studies), and my father (NY Regional Senior Information Technology Examiner, FDIC).

What's that? You don't recognize the names? That's why I made them links!!!

...Regardless (and all shameless, starry-eyed name dropping aside), they're the only reason somebody like me can have a clue as to what is going on in our economy right now. Unfortunately, you might not have access to said people, so I found you a link which explains everything fairly simple and very well:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/24/10221/0265/105/589765

It's a long read because it's a big subject but I think you can make it through. Please do so.