Changes

The '''Financial Crisis of 2008''' is an ongoing financial crisis centered in the United States, with reverberations in Europe and around the world. Losses thus far have run to hundreds of billions of [[dollar]]s. Owners of stock in major financial institution have lost over 50% of their money, and owners of some have lost 99% as major [[bank]]s closed down. The [[stock market]] has declined 20%-50% in major countries and [[pension]] funds have lost value. The price of American houses fell 20%, with much larger declines in California and Florida.  However, thus far ordinary depositors with cash in the bank have suffered no losses.  

The '''Financial Crisis of 2008''' is an ongoing financial crisis centered in the [[United States of America|United States]], with reverberations in Europe and around the world. Losses thus far have run to hundreds of billions of [[dollar]]s. Owners of stock in major financial institution have lost over 50% of their money, and owners of some have lost 99% as major [[bank]]s closed down. The [[stock market]] has declined 20%-50% in major countries and [[pension]] funds have lost value. The price of American houses fell 20%, with much larger declines in California and Florida.  However, thus far ordinary depositors with cash in the bank have suffered no losses.  

In late September the crisis focused on liquidity--financial companies owned hundreds of billions of dollars of "toxic" securities, mostly based on U.S. [[mortgage]]s; they could not sell the toxic securities because no one knew how much they were worth, and large scale loans between major institutions stopped flowing as the system lost liquidity and froze up. A $800 billion rescue plan became law in the U.S. October 3, but its impact will not be clear for a while. Meanwhile Europe's economic crisis continues to deteriorate.

In late September the crisis focused on liquidity--financial companies owned hundreds of billions of dollars of "toxic" securities, mostly based on U.S. [[mortgage]]s; they could not sell the toxic securities because no one knew how much they were worth, and large scale loans between major institutions stopped flowing as the system lost liquidity and froze up. A $800 billion rescue plan became law in the U.S. October 3, but its impact will not be clear for a while. Meanwhile Europe's economic crisis continues to deteriorate.