So a group of wacko Christians (note to ordinary Christians of the non-wacko variety: no offense), decided the best way to overcome the problems with the economy is with prayer. OK, a bit wacky, right? But nothing all that funny. No, the hilarity comes into the picture when they pick the scene of said prayer: at the golden calf bronze bull on Wall St. C’mon, guys! Don’t you know your Exodus 32?

Crazy bronze bull rubbing and chanting pictures and video at the link above.

I was in the car around noon today and the lady on NPR was talking about how the stocks were steadily increasing today and I’m thinking “oh how nice. I guess they’ll start climbing back up now.”

The DOW ended down another -650 points today for the biggest percentage drop in this whole crisis. Jesus.

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China says “No more lending to US banks. Unemployment hits a 7 year high. New home sales at a 17-year low. The 700 billion dollar number is a cross-your-fingers-and-hope fabrication.

So what do you think, Scrabbled? Let’s all pretend we have doctorates in macroeconomics and discuss. Will the bailout work? Are we fucked? If not, what would work?

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A year ago, Cramer flipped out on TV and they said he was nuts and overreacting. Now banks are going belly up. The craziest part is the last thing he says is a crack about Washington Mutual, which is expected to possibly go under by the end of the year.

Unwittingly in honor of the supposed “Black Monday” we’re supposed to have today (though is seems the DOW is already recovering…), I watched Trading Places today out of sheer boredom/procrastination. It occurred to me that I still have no idea what the fuck happens during the climax of the movie on the stock exchange floor. So I looked it up and, lo, apparently I’m not the only who didn’t have a clue. Lucky for us, we have the internet to explain things for us. It’s actually pretty ridiculously interesting and all very much real-world economics—no hollywood crap.

I pose a few questions for discussion: How high do gas prices get before there’s a massive sell-off of SUVs and large cars? Will the American roads look more like European roads (lots and lots of compact cars, a few sedans, rarely anything larger) within our lifetimes? Will you be able to adjust to eating more seasonal foods (e.g., not getting tomatoes year-round)? If the answers are “something soon like $6 a gallon,” “yes,” and “sure,” respectively, is the rising cost in gasoline a good thing?

Anyone paying attention to what’s going on in the world stock market right now? It’s down over 300 points. People are losing tens of thousands of dollars. People like this kid who filmed himself watching the numbers drop. A little scary, a little exciting, a little amusing.