Jello wrote:

Disney's net income falls 32%

We knew it would be ugly. Now we're starting to see just how hard the economic meltdown is hitting showbiz.

Disney kicked off what's likely to be a grim earnings season in the media sector by posting on Tuesday a 32% drop in net income for the first quarter. Overall revenue slumped 8% to $9.6 billion, and net income was $845 million.

Can anyone... put this in context? Has it ever gotten this bad this fast other than the slide towards the depression?

Sure, it has NEVER gotten this bad this fast across the entire economy. See the job crash chart I posted earlier for comparisons in the last 20 years. But no, the last time we saw anything like this was 1930. Governments are already falling (Iceland has completely collapsed) and this is going to continue.

And since this hasn't been made clear, this event is in the process of changing the entire world. As one of the other posts note, this is having effects on Putin's control of Russia, and I would watch very closely to see what other governments crash and burn.

Things that would not surprise me in the next 5 years.
1) AQ Khan has been released in Pakistan, some idiot in Pakistan will get their hands on a nuke and use it on India (fizzle or successful won't matter, it's still a very big, very messy BOOM) with a final death toll on the sub-continent in the area of 20-50 million in the ensuing war.
2) GM fails, Chrysler follows less than 6 weeks later, 3 million people lose their jobs. No one is aware of it because they can't afford cable TV and broadcast channels have gone digital so no one is able to watch TV. Radio doesn't mention it except to blame Obama for it.
3) France explodes in full revolt. They don't know how to do things half way, the fifth republic falls, and god only knows what happens next.