We all know the saying, “What happens here, stays here“, but a more appropriate Vegas slogan should be “Yesterday’s Hottest Real Estate Market, Today’s Foreclosure Poster Child“.

* UPDATE 12/11/08: Las Vegas: The Suicide Capital Of America

Here’s 3 courses of action Congress should take against the auto industry:

1. Transporting Americans is and should be one of the most important functions our government must address. And because we are facing a massive economic, energy and environmental crisis, the new president and Congress must do what FDR did when he was faced with a crisis – order the auto industry to stop building cars and instead build tanks and planes: The Big 3 are, from this point forward, to build only cars that are not primarily dependent on oil and, more importantly to build trains, buses, subways and light rail. This will not only save jobs, but create millions of new ones.

The fact that nobody is talking about all the money being used to bailout XYZ corporations here in the states vs. getting us out of Iraq is just mind-numbing!

OpenCRS lays out the numbers for us:

Congress has approved a total of about $864 billion for military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans’ health care for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks:

1. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) – Afghanistan and other counter terror operations,
2. Operation Noble Eagle (ONE) – providing enhanced security at military bases, and
3. Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

Of that total, CRS estimates that:

• Iraq will receive about $657 billion (76%),
• OEF about $173 billion (20%), and

Since I grabbed this “Will Code HTML For Food” image off the internet sometime ago, I can’t remember where it came from, but thanks to John’s Background Switcher, I see it every now and then on my desktop, and right now, it really hits home with a lot of folks.

Thanks to my wife Natalie, luckily I’m not in that dire a strait, but believe me, if it weren’t for her, I’d be a piece of wet toast out in the rain today.

So, to all you people that have a lock solid secure job, congratulations! For those that don’t, be as frugal as possible. Luckily, that’s something I actually am pretty good at.

With the world facing some of the toughest economic times in history, the 2008 G-20 Financial Summit will have a lasting impact on all of us going forward.

The Brookings Institute has outlined 7 key issues at stake for the 2008 G-20 Financial Summit:

1. Financial Regulation and Supervision
2. Stabilize Emerging Economies
3. Reform the Aid System to Fix the Slow-Burning Global Poverty Crisis
4. Beyond the G-20: Why the WTO Is More Important than Ever
5. Now Is the Time for Permanent Governance Changes
6. Keep the IMF at the Center
7. What the U.S. and Asia Should Do: Establish a Global Financial Crisis Secretariat and an Asian Financial Facility

Here’s to hoping it’s a very productive meeting for us all: