@KSPRAYDAD:

goes*

TheHeeyyy

SimCity 2000, anyone? I remember taking up loans like crazy until not being able to pay the interest and go bankrupt.

lumpi

@TheHeeyyy: Went?

KSPRAYDAD

@Antiterra:

Yup. Many economists would say that the best thing to do in this type of situation is for the government to not offer bailouts to troubled financial institutions. It might hurt more in the short-term, but it'll greatly reduce the time needed for the situation to bottom-out. However, since this an election year no-one wants to do the right course of action, since it would be seen as unpopular. Thus, financial institutions who participated in shady lending deals get a bail-out from the government, with little repercussions to the executives responsible for their mess. Also, the government not-only sets a precedent that other financial institutions could take advantage-of in the future, it also further deepens the government's debt which will have severe long-term repercussions in the future.

The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if the US government went broke in 20 years (I'm not kidding).

TheHeeyyy

@Antiterra: Well...the first part of your description sound like playing Monopoly with my 5 year old kids.

Game I'd play is Total Meltdown...
[www.mobygames.com]

Or what the hell

Strip Poker
[www.mobygames.com]

KSPRAYDAD

Where is that game where you lend money to people without bothering to check if they're actually capable of ever paying you back, and then, when it becomes increasingly obvious that they won't, you repackage their debt in financial products that you sell overseas as though they have some value when they really don't, effectively multiplying the potential for disaster and spreading it to the rest of the world?

Man, what a crazy game. The ending's awesome, too: after a cliffhanger moment when it looks like everyone's fucked, PLOT TWIST: socialism saves the day and the game ends with a huge +9% Wall Street party 'cos all is right with the world.

Ah, good times indeed.

Antiterra

I have a dong.

Smurfy

I LOVED crazy climber when I was kid. Was my favorite arcade game for a long time back then!

GPman

Vegas stakes is a fun game.

Capitalist_Bagel

I for one elect the Three Stooges game on the NES. Nothing better than trying to earn money for an orphanage by diving that spoon into your soup, or racing through the hospital.

Oh how the sound effects haunt me *shudder*

Seraphim84

Grand Theft Auto.

If the economy gets any worse some of you will be taking a one way trip to the factory.....

Cash and a nutritious high calorie dietary supplement, it's a win/win situation shaking off those economy blues,for me obviously, although your money problems will also soon be a thing of the past.

Weirdwolf

Kabloom always seems appropriate in these times.

Likewise, Apartment Life just came out for The Sims, so you can simulate what happens after the foreclosure and you have to move into some tenement on the rough side of town instead of your new developed suburban paradise.

@Antiterra: I don't want to be That Guy, but I think there are a lot of problems with your summation. Selling debt, for instance, isn't just Three Card Monte by another name. It's a great idea, even if it was instrumental in making this mess as big as it is.

If there's a lesson here, it's that people get greedy, and forget that, eventually, there's not going to be a sucker bigger than they were. Of course, that makes it sound like it should be something MMO oriented...

Slatz_Grobnik

@Seraphim84:

I'm not sure whether I should be ashamed for knowing what that game is, or the fact that I actually liked it.

Pezdispenser

@TheHeeyyy: 20 years? I'd be more surprised if it took THAT long. If something isn't done, or at least started, in this presidential term, it can all go to hell with no 'reasonable' way out. So many things need fixing, yet people still think it only takes a finger to hold the dam.

If the world were like Earthbound, life would be great (or evil, however you want to see it).

NeonLight

no GTA?

Zorba

What? No State of Emergency? 1 was pretty addicting though the civilian kill penalty took away from it during the Kaos mode. Never played 2 though.

Frank

Segagaga

Kenofthedead

Where is the Sal and Richard making out game?

Pornosaur

Also: GTA4, because you know that's what all the brokers are gonna be like when everything goes to hell and they lose their minds.

Ulquiorra Schiffer

@Ulquiorra Schiffer: Just this weekend I saw a bouncer in Roppongi that looked like a guy from Lehman's I knew ...

That said, the whole joke is kinda lost if you are in the middle of it all: Last week's disturbances alone probably destroyed the GDP of a small country ....
Working in that field as well I pity all those who lost their jobs ... it kinda sucks when a single trading desk can tear down a 30.000 people company ....

develin

@develin: Yeah, I know, I'm an economics major, just gotta look on the bright side. We're not dead yet.

Ulquiorra Schiffer

I played the hell out of Crazy Climber. It's up there with Elevator Action and Mr. Do! as best coin-ops evar.

rainofwalrus

no screwjumper?

iamdaduck

@lumpi: I couldn't doing anything in sim city without going bankrupt.

chekt