I need someone to look over "So...how screwed are we?"

[jmowreader]

"So...how screwed are we?" is my treatise on the cause of the Great Depression of 2008. You guys might remember that "Screwed" was all about derivatives.

Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for the book, I got sent to Ohio. And as I drove around the state, seeing all the empty factories, I came to the realization that my original thesis was all wrong. We're not in this depression solely because of derivatives abuse. That's a very large part of it, but there's a more critical reason: there ain't no money because we offshored our manufacturing base, which depressed wages because services and retail don't pay as well as manufacturing does. Then the housing industry changed from building homes people could afford to homes that would make them the most money--McMansions--and to pushing up the cost of existing homes through the practice of house-flipping. The only way they could move those homes was to use creative financing designed largely for serious players who have access to ultra-high-yield investment vehicles. (I have a breakout in there that describes how, by using compound interest, you can actually get paid to buy a house...but to do it you need about $10 million in the bank.) Anyway, it's all in the book.

So, if you'd like to read "So...how screwed are we?" and offer suggestions on improving it (because I want to email it to people like Olbermann), drop me an email to xpr3 @ embarqmail.com. I'll send you a PDF quick. Thanks.