At COED we’re not only about boobs and beer – we also like to educate. Sometimes…

By now you’ve all heard about the financial crisis gripping America Earth, but most of us aren’t high finance majors – so you might be in the dark about what is going on and how it started. This is highly important information people – time to get in the know!

My buddy who works at Merrill Lynch (and magically somehow still has a job) sent me this irreverent yet tactful power point that breaks down the situation for people that aren’t at the Wharton School of Business.

He says, “Its perfect. It is THE dummies guide to how it all went down. Its stick figures being a little bit sarcastic but for the most part dead on to the whole mess. Id really suggest you take a look at it ASAP.”

For your own good, click to see how the financial disaster got started

While we were all watching our parents cry over their lost retirement accounts and House Republicans decided not the bail out the rich – I was expecting stigmata or the seas to turn to blood. Instead, I found a little blurb on CNN that noted a $25B loan to the auto industry that was quietly approved with some MAJOR implications.

First, the background: the American automakers have been struggling with pensions and pay increases for union workers who have dedicated their lives to American cars. Unfortunately, the automakers themselves have the reflexes of a 90 year old Parkinson’s patient.

While the world is moving forward with hyper-efficient cars, American automakers have what’s called a ‘backlog.’ In essence, they can’t start building efficient cars until they finish all the gas-guzzling SUVs that they currently have cued for production. Over $4.5B in SUV parts are not even in production yet, but “have to be used” before the companies will move onto the basic planning stages of new vehicles. (more…)