No crystal ball necessary, it dosn’t work.  The House of Representatives has passed the Senate’s version of the Bailout, endorsed by both Barack Obama and  John McCain (but not Ron Paul), and the President has indicated that he will sign it into Law.

Now what? [a.k.a. The Present]
The stock market closed lower today with the S&P 500 losing 1.35% to close at 1,099.23 down 15.05 points; with the ‘experts’ rationalizing the movement in negative territory by commenting that the unwritten rule of the street is to buy on the rumors and sell on the news.
For more of what the bailout means for you and how is affecting you in the short term (present), read the article Bailout Will Help, but Pitfalls Remain, U.S. News & World Report.

The Future: nobody really knows.  Despite the very high price tag of $700,000,000,000, the bailout provision only targets banks that are holding the ‘toxic’ assets related to subprime mortgages with the expected result to unblock the credit markets and restore liquidity.
The majority of the experts agree that the USA is headed for a recession, and there’s no consensus on the depth and duration of this recession.

The Past: how did we get here?  A complex situation doesn’t just happen suddenly, and there’s not one single event or single sequence of events leading up to it, but it’s more a matrix effect of various events.  To catch a glimpse of how the subprime mortgage and the high personal debt happened, the best and most pleasant way to do so is to invest 98 minutes into Danny Schechter’s movie: In Debt We Trust.  The movie gives an overall look at how the American Way of Debt came about, how the Buy Now and Pay Later culture prospered in the recent years.  The movie will answer some questions and pose new ones; and you’ll find yourself wondering if now is time to PAY, and there’s no more money to BUY.

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Photo credits: Digiart2001 and lemonjenny (cc)