When it comes to finance and investment, I am just one of many laymen out there, and we should understand by now laymen need not be elderly, Chinese-speaking with poor or no knowledge of English, or un-/poorly educated. The article below has helped me understand a great deal of what is going on with the global economic situation right now. It's an eye-opener for those with little such knowledge.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/26/60minutes/main4546199.shtml The Bet That Blew Up Wall Street
Steve Kroft On Credit Default Swaps And Their Central Role In The Unfolding Economic Crisis

Also strongly related is the Ponzi scheme.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
I'm sure by now these words are no longer stranger to us, what with the way they are so fanatically espoused in the gazillions of financial investment ads out there (ads in the train, ads at the stations, ads especially in the banks you visit): "global currency arbitrage", "hedge futures trading", "high-yield investment programs", "Offshore investment", etc. Ok maybe we don't see all of these words, but hell yeah, me layman say they sound the same.

And how is the Ponzi scheme affecting us? Here's how: http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2008/10/dear-mr-tan-somebody-put-it-in-nutshell.html

After reading on the Ponzi scheme, I still don't understand exactly how it's happening, but I sure got the big picture.

Even if you're not the least bit interested in investment/finance trading/insurance/insert-whatever-relevant-obscure-term-here, read on and appreciate the beauty in the ugliness of it all.

In a way, I am glad that I have my toy interest to tie down a good deal of my money. If not for it, I would have easily gone down one of these doomed financial investment route.