MAKING SENSE OF THE CRISIS?

This financial crisis we are living through is difficult to understand - especially for your average Joe.  I am not about to offer the perfect explanation - or ask you to pay $19.95 for our latest financial news alert.  Velocity of Money has collapsed.  We are facing the risk of a liquidity trap ("Signature characteristics of a liquidity trap are short-term interest rates that are near zero and fluctuations in the monetary base that fail to translate into fluctuations in general price levels") and deflation.  But worst of all - Europe and the United States are suffering from a leadership vacuum and a lack of concensus as to the direction and strategy needed to navigate the world economy.  Unfortunately the markets will not wait.