Who made this global financial mess?

Hey let's cut this media crap. You are part of the problem in causing this market panic. Stop the media blitz and start reporting the positive, because I'm moving on from this mess regardless on the outcome. The only thing Wall Street is doing is creating the fear so people will dump their stocks at a loss and then sweep it up!
— Jeff S., Address withheld

How about we start a Weather Channel that only reports that it’s sunny all the time?

To be sure, the press played a role, in our opinion. For too long, the problems in the mortgage market were attributed to a handful of credit-impaired "subprime" borrowers. It's now clear the entire system of home mortgage finance began to fall apart as early as 2005.

But we don't believe in reporting only good news and cheerleading the markets. That's not our job.

There is more at stake here than just a credit problem. If you dig deep enough you will find that the same players who created the Federal Reserve are also the same people who are buying up financial institutions in trouble. … The more I read about this situation it clearly indicates that this approach is not about money — it is about sheer power and control. Any chance you can dig in to this story???  There is a story here — yet it seems the media is afraid to cover it.
— John C., Phoenix, Ariz.

You can find dozens of “documentaries” that “expose the truth” on YouTube about the “shadowy origins” of the Federal Reserve and the ongoing conspiracy to control our lives by an unelected body that has unchecked powers.

Having researched this carefully, I’ve come to an important conclusion: You should ignore anything that originates on YouTube and claims to “expose” anything. Stick with clips of skateboarding dogs and Steven Colbert Greenscreen Challenges.

The problem with these YouTube docs is that they contain just enough truth to sound credible. But they share a common theme: There has been an evil conspiracy on the part of (cue ominous music and insert Black Hat of your choice here) that has duped the Common Man to serve the greedy self-interests of the Shadowy Overlords behind (pick your favorite public or private institution.)

The Fed is illegal. The WTO is secretly in charge of the global economy. Wall Street is controlled by a cabal of 10 white men who play poker once a month and decide how to screw the rest of us.

Many of these videos explaining the financial crisis like to ask the question: “Is it really credible that all this is an accident?” Well, yes, in fact, it is. Financial markets are by their nature chaotic and unpredictable because they represent the collective fear and greed of everyone — including the authors of these “documentaries.”

These folks frequently support their claims by pointing to “media silence” on these conspiracies. “Mainstream Media knows full well what’s going on but has been bought off or silenced by "Those in Power.”

I’ve got hundreds of these in my Inbox. My personal opinion is that this dangerous nonsense helps people overcome a feeling of powerlessness (“They did this to me”) and only makes it more difficult to develop realistic and rational solutions to the very real problems these “documentaries” conveniently overlook.

Are you unaware that "flooding it (the economy) with cash" causes inflation? In fact it is a fire hose compared to the lending window's squirt gun. Forget the discount rate. The real news is the billions in 'created' dollars the Fed is throwing at the financial markets. This will cause unprecedented inflation. Are you duped and don't realize this, or are you part of the con?
— Ben H., Atlanta

Duped. I’m one of those members of the Mainstream Media that’s been reprogrammed by the Shadowy Overlords.

But if you lined up all of the world’s economists end to end, they’d never reach a consensus.

I see reports the market lost $8.4 trillion from one year ago. Is this calculation based on actual transactions or based upon a market-cap type of calculation?
— John P., Address withheld

I’ve seen numbers as high as $25 trillion. It’s tough number to nail down. For one thing, it depends on what you mean by “market” Do you include just stocks? Or bonds, too? What about real estate? And how do you value the loss on the many trillions of dollars in mortgage backed securities at the heart of the problem — because no one can tell what they’re worth?

Are there any readers out there with ideas on how to help tally the final tab for all this?

Also in msnbc.com business Interactive: Ten cars that Detroit will regret Local governments face hard budget choices One casualty of the recession: U.S. mobility ConsumerMan: HELP for homeowners   Video: ‘Cash for Clunkers’ might be a win-win

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