Things are bad, but that article is overly simplistic. What this "Dirty Little Secret" phrase that author keeps pushing? Wall Street Journal is all over this information every single day. Every movement from Geithner / Federal Govt / the banks mentioned etc.. gets mentioned and magnified and argued about in those pages.
depends what forum you're looking at on there. it's known as a conspiracy forum but there are some other (serious) forums there.
if you want something that's a little more serious and good to read, check out sciforums.com. some of the people that post there are what I'd say, the smartest people on the internet. At least the ones I've encountered on my 15+ year journey with it