Stock Market Game Week in Review

The Stock Market Game is a curriculum-based teaching tool that allows students to invest a hypothetical $100,000 online stock portfolio to learn about long-term saving and investing.

Like Jason in the Friday the 13th movies, or Rasputin, or Steven Seagal, this bear is hard to kill. After a strong late-day rally Thursday, the bear mauled a charging bull Friday morning, and the market continued its downward trend. But the bull mounted a counteroffensive Friday afternoon, only to be beaten down once again as the Dow finished down 337 points. That bovine is a glutton for punishment.

Citibank (C Quote) and the Royal Bank of Scotland(RBS Quote) announced layoffs, and the automakers continued to teeter on the brink. Economists are worried that cuts in consumer spending and job losses will create a feedback loop that drives the economy down even further. But there are also some optimists out there. Let's hope the optimists are right.

Treasury Secretary Paulson announced Tuesday that the government would not be buying distressed assets under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP, a.k.a. the Wall Street bailout/rescue) and would stick with injecting capital into banks. The TARP is the largest government expenditure since World War II. (CNBC.com has an educational slide show on large federal outlays.) ...