Women's Perspectives on Understanding the Financial Meltdown and the Wall Street Bailout

Forgive this homespun analogy, but understanding the complexities of last week's massive Wall Street disaster is like trying to unravel a fist-sized tangle of yarn attached to your knitting.

You know you just can't cut and run because if you do, everything will eventually come undone. But you feel powerless to work your way out of the mess, let alone comprehend what caused the snarl in the first place and how you can avoid another in the future.

I found the financial news (and the choices being put in front of us) much easier to understand thanks to these smart women, my colleagues who have all written extensively on the issues:

US Economy Guide Kimberly Amadeo on:

• Feds Mull $700 Billion Bailout
  Why the bailout is critical to restoring functioning of the financial markets. An explanation of what happened to trigger the bailout.
• Federal Intervention in the Banking Crisis
  A chronology of what led to the current banking crisis, and how the federal government tried, unsuccessfully, to stop it.
• A profile of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
  How he has creatively used the Fed to try and stem the current banking crisis.
• The Bearn Stearns bailout
  A profile of the company and why it needed to be saved.
• The AIG bailout
  A profile of the company and why it needed to be saved.

US Liberal Politics Guide Deborah White on:

• Ten Reasons Why Bush's Proposed Bailout Is Larceny

US Politics Guide Kathy Gill on:

• Privatize Profit, Socialize Loss: Commentary on the Proposed Wall Street Bailout
• The ABCs of CDOs: How We Got to Today's Financial Mess
• The Financial Meltdown and a Civics Lesson
• Republican Congress Talked About Financial Reform, But Did Nothing