This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007 feature. The voting has now closed and readers have chosen the weak dollar and rising oil and gold prices as the money story of the year. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

As we approach the end of 2007, we now have a really tough question to answer. What is the Money Story of 2007? What are the candidates?

The Boom and Bust in Private Equity Buyouts

As we entered 2007, no one could imagine the activity with private equity firms around the world. Private equity firms were supposed to be the new Masters of the Universe, ushering in a new Gilded Age not seen since 1920s. We saw this with the initial public offering of the Blackstone Group, the premiere private equity group. This was followed by a series of public and semi-public offerings by other organizations, such as Apollo Group.

However, the new Roaring '20s was relatively short-lived with the credit crunch. This caused most merger activity, including corporate buyouts, to come to grinding halt. Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) now trades substantially below its high price. Who could guess that private equity would experience a boom and bust all in the same year? However, before you dismiss private equity as an element of the past, remember that most of these firms still have substantial cash available ready to invest when conditions are ripe.

Agriprocessors Inc. -- an Iowa-based kosher slaughterhouse which supplies the "Supreme Kosher" brand -- is suffering a Class I recall of "potentially underprocessed" frankfurters. One- and two-pound packs of beef and chicken frankfurters processed on November 15 and shipped to the Northeast are currently being accepted as returns at the plant.

While no illnesses have been reported, it's notable that a Class I recall is issued only "when a reasonable probability exists that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death."

Agriprocessors Inc. employs 700 workers and is the largest kosher meat processor in the world.

B. Brandon Barker is the author of Operation EMU.