The financial crisis, as explained by lolcats

By Kathy G.

I agree with Ezra that this post provides one of the best brief explications I've read so far of the dynamic behind the current financial meltdown.

But if we're talking "Financial Crisis for Dummies"-type explanations, I have to admit that I like the following one (which I found on the gay gossip site, Datalounge) even better. True, it misses some of the most important features of this crisis, such as the way the proliferation of derivatives dramatically increased financial risks, and how deregulation-mania got us into this mess in the first place.

But it is way, way funnier.

Lower Middle Class: OH HAI! I CAN HAS HOUS?

Bank: I HAS A SUBPRIME MORTGAGE OFFR 4 U. LET ME SHOW U IT.

Lower Middle Class: KOOL. LOL!

Couple years later...

Lower Middle Class: U MEANS I HAS TO PAY MORE EVERY MONTHS? FAIL

Bank: OH NOES!  WE WERE COUNTIN ON UR PAYIN US

Lower Middle Class: NO, THEY BE TAKIN' MAH HOUS

Bank: ALL UR HOUSES ARE BELONG TO US. BUT NO ONE BUYIN'! FAIL

Comments

[Shane Taylor]

Apparently, we can add:

SEC FAIL

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/09/regulatory-exem.html

[Toronto real estate agent]

Funny, but I would add:
FED2001:"Uhm, everything goez down, lets cut the rate, we will create PARADISE so easily!"
Lower Middle Class: KOOL. LOL!
Bank: KOOL. LOL!
media: KOOL. LOL!

Anyway, hope in some years we will even not remember it (we means USA, Canada, Europe...)
Take care
Elli

[dcase]

I guess people who talk like this are stupid, eh? I'm almost certain it was not your intent, but this excerpt could easily be taken as racist humor deriding a significant portion(but not all) of those affected by the subprime crisis. The use of "has" (substituted for have), "kool" (cool, as common slang), and the use of "be" (as in "be takin' ") for instance, are all markers of what linguists call African-American Vernacular English (Ebonics). I'm not being overly sensitive here; ostensibly humorous exchanges using this type of language are fairly common on right-wing sites like Stormfront.

[gruntmunky]

dcase - you really should go out less and spend more time on the intertubez, then you would know that LOLcats (for Laugh Out Loud Cats) are a web phenomena, wherein pictures of cats (which surely the digital camera was solely invented for) are captioned with amusing but sub-literate humourous, er, captions.
You take offence too easily and throw accusations of racism far too readily - U needz to chill lol

[Kathy G.]

dcase, I understand your concern -- someone who's not familiar with lolcats could easily interpret lolcat-speak as being a racist attempt to mock African-American dialect.

To get a handle on the lolcat phenomenon, see this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolcats

As well as this:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

[DanielSalaman]

The most dangerous Criminals in the world are legal operating Crooks in high positions, little that they care they have made their money nice and easy, its time for them to take a nice vacation wile other people are losing their Homes. Was your mortgage legal or illegal ? Are you a victim ? Sorry this is a gangsters WORLD ,wake up and face reality. Are you now living in the street or in a public toilet ? vote if you dare again for Gordon Brown he is the only expert, who has the Economic Magic Formula don't forget . I say ones a Brown victim allways a Brown Victim, but if you are an American, you must be my dear a Bush victim. Invest in Caravans the prices are going up on a daily basis. Let us all blame the Taliban for a change if not Bush Brown and Comedian talented boy Tony Blair. Wake up those 3 people have managed to destroy the Global Economy. China to day is buying America on its way to be buying soon Britain and the Eu......Sorry if its unpleasant NEWS, THATS THE SCORE. Daniel Salaman London UK Nicosia Cyprus