who has the Fed's back? The more they print money the less our dollar is worth. And what happens when all (or just one) of our nation's lenders (China, Korea, Japan) decide that we aren't credit worthy anymore and stop buying our debt? Basically economic doomsday. Interest rates will go through the roof and the economy will grind to a halt.
I'd like to say a massive cutback in Federal spending (entitlements, unconstitutional branches e.g. EPA, Dept of Education) along with lower taxes- that would give me confidence in our financial system.

Lets see, if, as Ms. Cortez states, the FDIC has 53 Billion available, how many banks can it actually pay out on. The Indymac fiasco cost 8 billion. That means that FDIC will be insolvent with 6 similar bank failures. The projections are that 300 banks will fail in the near future. (500 failed in the Great Depression). Doesn't sound too good to me. Anyone that puts their full faith and credit into an entity that can't balance a checkbook deserves to lose their money.

There are currently approximately 95 banks on the FDIC watchlist on average in any "good economic" year there are 60 - 70 on the watchlist. Even with that number higher than usual nearly 90% of the banks on the list resolve their issues of those that do not most will be purchased by larger competing banks not taken over by the FDIC.

We are not in the economic doomsday that people think we are. Gas prices are high, personal savings rates are low, the current economic status is rough, but not dire. While it is unknown how long or to what extent the housing crisis and sub-prime market will have on the national banking industry, we do know that our banks in Utah are well capitalized and more than capable of weathering this storm.

"You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out... If people only understood the rank injustice of the money and banking system, there would be a revolution by morning."
- Andrew Jackson 7th president of the United States

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
- Thomas Jefferson

"When once a republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil."
-      Thomas Jefferson

The greatest threat facing America today is not terrorism, or foreign economic competition, or illegal immigration. The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation. It is this one-two punch – Congress spending more than it can tax or borrow, and the Fed printing money to make up the difference – that threatens to impoverish us by further destroying the value of our dollars.

Both political parties want the Fed to print more money, either to support social spending or military adventurism. Politicians want the printing presses to run faster and create more credit, so that the economy will be healed like magic – or so they believe.

Fiat dollars allow us to live beyond our means, but only for so long. History shows that when the destruction of monetary value becomes rampant, nearly everyone suffers and the economic and political structure becomes unstable. Spendthrift politicians may love a system that generates more and more money for their special interest projects, but the rest of us have good reason to be concerned about our monetary system and the future value of our dollars.

These are not tough times.
Things couldn't be better.
It's the best time in history to be rich!
I am truly blessed!
Sorry if you are not blessed and are not rich.

Of course its not doomsday. But when the Secretary of the Treasury is pleading today with congress to "quickly" approve support for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, it may well be doomsweek. It is obviously doomsweek for taxpayers-25 billion for the mortgage companies, 53 billion through FDIC, untold billions for the investment banks (Wachovia reported 8 billion in losses for just the last 3 months...). The entire financial system is at best precariously balanced even in good times, and can easily fall in the current times. I note that the local predominent religous leaders have always advocated to stay out of debt, live on less than you earn, and save a "little" for a rainy day. I find it interesting that they have never advocated to save a lot in the banking system.

The entire world is on the precipice of a massive debt deflation. Which isn't surprising, since the entire world has been engaging in a massive debt *inflation* for at least the past two decades.

Although Alan Greenspan was wrong to blame all of the unfolding mess on the major geopolitical changes that followed the fall of Communism (he was trying to duck his own huge responsibility), the 1989-1991 revolutions and the resulting changes in the global order were a huge part of what followed. Globalization -- basically, underdeveloped countries finally showing up to the global economy -- worked a big dislocation on established assumptions, and sent big waves of money sloshing around. As usual, people got too optimistic, which meant they took on more debt than they should -- which in turn bid up asset prices more than they should have been, which led to still further debt accumulation (higher asset values can support more borrowing).

Now the correction. It's going to hurt -- but ultimately it's going to do not much more than get us back to where we should have been all along, i.e. not leveraged to the gills.

It's all about purchasing power.

If money income stays the same, but the price level increases, the purchasing power of that income falls. Inflation does not always imply falling purchasing power of one's real income, since one's money income may rise faster than inflation.

The daily growing disparity between rich and ... non-rich = Even more purchasing power for the rich.
And at the moment, the rich are having a ball!