Public pension funds are some of the biggest casualties of this market slump. The New York state pension fund has lost 20% of its value since April. This is more bad news for baby boomers, says Bill Bonner. This generation is already “woefully ill-prepared for retirement” and could end up causing the “fiscal meltdown of this nation”.

Falling house prices, tighter credit and rising prices are going to hurt consumers.

You know the old saying about teaching a man to fish, as opposed to just giving him a fish. Well, the state of the US Social Security system has led me to propose to you a new version of the fish proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a politician to fish and he’ll steal your pole”.