Some perspective for the Chicken Littles
Today’s stock market drop is a record point drop, but does not even crack the top 10 single-day percentage drops in American history.
Let’s stop pounding the panic buttons.
***
On FNC right now, Neil Cavuto emphasizes that lending is going on and puts a damper on Heather Nauert’s panic-button heaving about credit-freeze anecdotes.
Are there businesses getting turned down for loans? Yes.
Here’s a novel thought: Maybe banks are finally learning they shouldn’t fork over money to bad risks.
***
Reader Jamie e-mails this link to a history of US stock market crashes and adds:
I like that the headlines are calling today’s crash the “worst ever.”
In terms of absolute points, sure. In terms of percentages in a single day of trading, 1987’s stock market crash was far worse, and the NASDAQ slide of 2000-2002 was massively worse.
I think news media just can’t resist panic mongering. I imagine them all in the washroom of their office when the soap pump runs out of soap and they all stand around for 10 minutes going, “DOOOOOOOOOM! DOOOOOOOOOOOM!!” until the janitor shows up and puts in more soap.
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- Webloggin » Dow Decline Only Slightly Better than NYT Over 1 Year Period
- Mofo Politics | Everything McCain, Obama, Palin, and that other guy-related» Blog Archive » Video: the Candidates on failure of the bailout bill
- Bailout Bill Rejected « Tai-Chi Policy
- The Trillion Dollar Bailout Has Failed | The Daily Conservative
- Stop the freeping panic | BitsBlog
- Brutally Honest
- Dave Lucas' Notes » Around The Blogosphere 29 September 08
- What Was The Republican Congress Thinking!? | Bitter Knitter
- House GOP finally finds some gonads | The TIW Blog
- Government Never Solved a Democrat Mess | Hennessy's View
- There's My Two Cents
- Michelle Malkin » Lie of the day: McDonald’s can’t get credit!
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- The death of fiscal conservatism « The Right Daily
- So, Is America And The World Marching Toward Doom Or Not?–UPDATED WITH BANK RUNS…or not « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier
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Yes, let’s not panic about our 401Ks losing tens of thousands of dollars in a few hours. No worries.
You wouldn’t know that from the panic stricken front page on Foxnews.com right now.
When do you start panicking? when it cracks the top 5?
Hope you’re all happy.
It’s time to Buy not a time to cry.
HEY PEOPLE HERES A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE
screw this all
In the last 30 minutes as I was responding to these threads, a car just T-Boned an SUV at full speed right outside my window in a busy intersection..
I was first on-scene to cut a police officer out of her car.
Everyone lives today….. go tell your loved ones you love then. The markets will be here tomorrow.
I’m not panicking one bit. I got everything out of the market a long time ago.
If you’re close to retirement age, it is a time to cry. If you have 15+ years until that day, it isn’t.
The market levels were build on a lie. That lie is now becoming well known and the markets are adjusting to reality.
Excellent point Rabid!
We will survive this!
Great time to buy certain stocks!
Retiring next week? Next year? If not then get out there and buy and quit whining.
401Ks are not secure investment vehicles. If you have been investing in a 401K for any substantial amount of time you have still made great gains off the market. If you aren’t retiring anytime soon then you WILL recover all your losses in the future. Retirement accounts are not meant to be successful as short term investments.
Congratulations on the work of patriots for killing this travesty of a bill. I have money in stocks, but I am not willing to give up my hard won freedoms for paper.
I have been seeing too many complacent people and I am so thrilled by the conservative activism that I have renewed faith in our country.
What Bush and the Democrats do not understand is that it is about the people. It has always been about the people.
They can pay off the greedy and they can pay off the dependant voters, but they can’t pay off the patriots. Our currency is love for our country and the people and distrust for any government who demeans us.
The Democrats once again OVER PLAYED their hands. Now it is time to start the offensive. First. Petition Bush to FIRE Paulson. That alone sets the Dems back on their rears. Then McCain needs to fire up Sarah, to rally the patriots behind a proposal to readjust how mortgages are valued (from Mark to Market to 3 years averaging). This alone will invigorate the stock market.
Time to take the fight to them.
I agree with John Ansell, it is time to buy..or close to it. I’m scoping a few stocks for sure.
If they do agree on some kind of relief package, I hope they do not add any mortgage relief. I get sick every time one of those politicians mentions the words “main-street”.
So, how are the millions in my mutual funds going? How is the value of my home doing? Will I be able to retire and live like I plan?
How is this going to effect ME?
THAT is what I am talking about….
The few banking types I know are crooks; one brags about his exploits in insider trading while he bashes the Bush and Cheney for being the real thieves.
Why can’t they eat their own mistakes and bad decisions. Sure, Congress has some responsibility too. The media won’t talk about Clinton, Bush and McCain having pushed for reform in years past or the various dem thugs who fed from the trough. Why does no one ask what Obama received from Fannie and Freddie in return for all that cash? One notes that Dodd, Obama and Kerry are 1, 2 and 3 is size of the contributions received and Obama hasn’t been around very long so his share per annum is at the top. Looks like many Americans are unaware of crooked Chicago machine politics, rev. wrong wright, ayers, dorhn, tony rezko and a host of other miscreants.
Nancy P. is a real horse’s ass. Still, an Obama win will give her and Reid more chances to destroy the country.
Mookie, you sound like a typical liberal who expects the government we elected to solve your problems by creating debt that our grandkids will never be able to repay.
I have a 401K and market losses are going to happen. The adults/voters in this country are responsible for this mess. We continue to send the same career crooks back to Washington and expect them not to screw us. You can pass on your mistakes to your kids and grandkids, but I’d rather we pay for this problem. Our children had nothing to do with this.
If you want to government to sure up your 401K and send the bill to your kids, then you’re as bad as the crooks in Washington.
As long as you mean 10 years are short term
Not to be too harsh, but if you are that close to retirement age, then you shouldnt be too locked into the market anyway.
And your parents/grandparents should have lectured you on the effects of the Great Depression from personal experience.
Great video of McCain warning congress in 2006 about what we see happening today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ROOriYvJM4
I guess that is why I sold off my portfolio, paid off my mortgage, and bought gold and silver (then went back to work
LOL you’re right! My bad. I forgot to mention that both vehicles were checking their retirement accounts in real-time at the time of the accident.
(for those of you that dont realize it – no they werent)
On September 29th, 2008 at 4:57 pm, John Ansell said:
Everybody wants to “sell high”, but they forget about “buy low”.
Never fear. Lindsey Graham has rode in on the BiPartisan Horse!
Look, I lost a few thousand today myself. I’m mad, but not that something wasn’t done today. I’m mad that something wasn’t done years ago.
this is why i plant more than one crop in my garden: when the carrots fail, i can eat turnips
Time for a massive McCain move to capture the election. He needs to frame the Democratic actions that lead to this fiasco. Demand the firing of Paulson. Preach the patriot message. He is already coming out against how the Democrats have turned off the electorate with the over-the-top partisan take on this bill. In fact I would call Frank down right exuberant on the Lou Dobbs show last Wednesday.
Regarding the doom and gloom about getting credit: During this whole mess, my husband and I got approval to buy a home. (We stayed ‘put’ for 22 yrs – a family sharing one bathroom.) We have the credit and down payment and easily qualified for a good loan on one heck of a fine home. If you have lived within your means, you can buy in this market.
Our current house is paid off and we will sit on it until the market gets better to sell.
BUY, BUY, BUY!!!!!!
We can fix this mess without a government bailout!
(ok but dont buy irrationally, do your research first)
stock markets go up and stock markets go down, if you don’t like that fact get your 401K diversified. 401k’s are for the long term, and if you were that close to retirement you should have been moving stuff around; and, surely not had your interests in real estate. i have a pension, but have worked for companies with 401ks and knew better than to place much of my 401k money in the real estate. i made sure that i researched and placed my funds in more solid financial investments. the speculators (soros) are the ones that are driving the markets, and not so long ago they were driving oil prices sky high and it became more expensive to produce products and get those products to market. that impacted our pocket books, now oil is dropping and we will see the economy begin to rise.
this has all been a power grab and to make economy an issue to get the Obamtiler elected. george soros has been trying to destroy the US economy for a long time. selling short is illegal and should not have been allowed but the SEC chairman looked the other way. well, it is time to stop looking the other way and start indicting: Raines, Gorelick, Frank, Dodd and whoever else is culpable.
Last word: God is in control. I will survive, as He is my provider, Not Government and Not Man. Jehovah Jira, My Provider!
I’m selling shoooort, just sellling shoooort. What a wonderful profit, I’m selling short…
(my apologies to Gene Kelly)
The thing about markets is they can always rebound, and we’re in the money. Again. I have faith in this country & its people.
But once you bend over and let the gub’mint rape yer wallet, you really are screwed. Then it’s tears n beer for all.
Will it all shatter horribly like what my Grandparents & their kids lived thru in the 1930s? I doubt it. But I’m an eternal optimist.
I do know that once all this settles out and levels off, we the people really need to take a hard look at who in the congress needs to be impeached, and who in the administration needs to be fired.
~nuff said for now. Go help your neighbor.
Buck up or turn in your man card. If you invested to flip, then you got your a$$ handed to you today. If you’re in it for the long run, today is a blip. Relax, try decaf…
One more thing, Rob.
Keep some cash, food and ammo on hand in good times and bad. If you have extra cash, BUY!
Like many I have lost some money in the current crisis … but I do all of my investing for the long run not for quick profit … although I am impacted I am not defeatist about investing …
There are many good buys out there as a result of this so I will add to my portfolio with some companies that will endure and recover … companies that I was not necessarily able to own before because of their price …
My hope for this is that we will get rid of many of the unscrupulous crooks that have been running these banks and companies with impunity … cooking the books with false reporting while bilking the public and their investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars … these people need to be brought to justice and quickly …
I also hope that we will see a lot of these sorry excuses for congressional representation removed from office and some more voter responsive people put in their place …
I hope everyone here recovers from any personal effects of this situation …
Thank you, Michelle.
It was the emergency psychology mind-set of FDR and his ilk (Bush-Paulson-Bernanke) that get us into socialistic “fixes’ that leave us far worse off down the road.
The markets always bounce back.
Michelle, you should send this to AllahP, and cheer him up a bit.
He’s making Eeyore look like Pollyanna right now lol.
This is a pretty simple sellout: Wall Street was betting that “WE” would bail them out.
But, when we didn’t, they sold.
Everyone on TV keeps talking about the lack of “credit” — there are different ways to get there.
Paulson just wanted the people to save his GS “assets in trust”. People saw through that.
Anybody that wants an absolute secure retirement plan, here’s a hint: Run for Congress (and win)and the problem is solved.
As a Democrat.
In Massachussetts.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Paper value what???
News topic 20 years from now: Today’s market dropped from 20230 to 20047 to close at its lowest point in the past 10 years. Fears abound that we might be heading into another potential Depression that was wrongly predicted after the failed Wall Street bailout of 2008.
Time to Suck-It-Up Wall Street. Your greed and arrogance got you in to this mess. Now it’s time to user your collective financial wisdom to get yourselves out of it.
I lost everything in the dot com bust and was unemployed for 18 months. I have nothing to lose as long as I’m employed.
I do worry about my parents though. They worked hard for their money and were the grasshoppers in the fable. They shouldn’t have to worry about this stuff now that they’re retired.
Michelle, nearly all the international markets were closed by the time this vote came out, and they were all diving even though most thought the bill would be voted in. I hate to say it, but the 777 point loss this afternoon may well be nothing compared to what happens tomorrow. I wouldn’t be be calling anyone ‘chicken little’ just yet..
On September 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm, Mookie said:
The only people who lost money were the idiots selling their stocks at a loss today.
Just because a graph shows a dip in your 401k doesn’t mean you lost a damned thing – unless you cashed out at a loss.
And I would rather lose tens of thousands of dollars than sell out my country or my freedom to even more collectivism.
Para bellum!
Better two months of bad market performance compared to a lifetime of nationalization. One is easily recoverable. The other…. not at all.
The stock market is traditionally a yo-yo.
Friend of mine stopped over and told me he was looking at a retirement condo in Naples, FL that cost $85,000 8 years ago. Last he knew the same condo was $385,000. Those properties need to find their true market value. This bill would have kept that artificially high and subsidized it.
This idea of the government stepping in to WARP prices corrections is nuts… my opinon.
For all the people whining about your 401K plans, you saw this coming 10 days ago, you could have moved every last penny of your 401K into treasury notes or just simply cash. But instead, you were hoping that tax payers would bail YOU out and that when the bail out happened your 401K value would go up faster being in stock than in cash. I say STFU and SUCK IT UP.
On September 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm, nyc123me said:
I say let the sky fall instead of the shackle and whip on my freedom!
Bloomberg: “Total market value lost today: $1.1 trillion, $400 billion more than cost of bailout”
and that doesn’t seem ironic to you RabidSquirrel? I guess you don’t have any investments or retirement plans, so it’s all ok then, as long as you’re ok then who cares about the rest of the country, right? What an a55.
There’s a big difference in the money that was lost today in the market and the cost of the bailout. The money lost on Wall Street came out of the pockets of those who freely chose to play and it will come back to cool heads who ride it out. The money in the bailout would have come out of everyone’s pockets despite the majority not wanting to play Washington’s game and, despite what Harry and Nancy told us, the money was never coming back.
There’s a lot of true, comforting comments about 401ks and long term investments: if you’re not retiring this year ahng in there everything will be fine. East to say if you are not, like some of us just retired or retiring in the next year. We’re screwed through no fault of our own, because the F$%$%^$% Democrats played politics with the home loan industry. And worse than that they’ve got people believing they didn’t do anything wrong!
I would rather take a hit now so my kids can have a retirement future 40 years from now.
It’s time we did some sacrificing for the future. Our parents and grandparents did so for us. There is always tome to do the right thing.
There is always
tometime to do the right thing.sorry………
I AM MY OWN RETIREMENT PLAN.
I work for myself, thank you very much.
As long as the government doesn’t impede my efforts to create value in the market or excessively take from my wages, I’ll do just fine.
And before Nancy Pelosi steps to the podium to claim how she’s saved American jobs, I’d like to point out that she hasn’t hired one person beyond her own staff or had to make a payroll. Perhaps a bit of a rant, but an appropriate perspective in light of all the panic-mongers in the media.
On September 29th, 2008 at 5:37 pm, nyc123me said:
I lived on the streets before. Concrete mattress. And I’d do it again rather than be a slave to the State.
I gather from another post you’re afraid of sleeping on a dirt floor again or something? Dirt floors are damned comfortable compared to concrete!
Better that than be a slave!
Pecunia, si uti scis, ancilla est; si nescis, domina!
Pretty cold. Actually no, downright cruel you b*stard.
Just wait until the Social Security bill really becomes due!
By the way, the Republicans should, if they had any guts, take over the Senate with Kennedy and Byrd out. They need to strink Reid up on his own petards and declare victory for the American people by refusing to bail out anyone. Ah, a dude can dream.
Thank you for some perspective, Michelle. Really getting sick and tired of all of the Republican/conservative whining and panty wetting over this.
The ‘87 stock market crash was dwarfed this one. The number of S&L’s that failed during that crisis dwarfed the number of banks that have failed during this one, by an order of magnitude.
Personally, I think Wall St. and Paulson created this panic by convincing enough people of doom and gloom so taht they could get a bill to bail their sorry asses out.
I agree! Maybe if enough people are hurt by the democrats policies, the ignorant American and illegal voter will wake up and ensure everyone involved is housed down the hall from Duke Cunningham (R Ca)… behind bars!
And John McInsane/amnesty is on the same side as b hussein odumbo!
I do not believe the sky is falling but I do think this is going to be very painful for many. Maybe it needed to happen, I don’t know. I do know we are going to find out what Americans are made of. If the Dow falls 2000 – 3000 points, we are going to feel it on not only main street, but on my street.
On September 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm, Flyoverman said:
I want more than that… I want my kids to live in as much, if not more, freedom than me!
This is a mess.
A complete liberal mess.
And what is their answer.
A complete power grab, with no accountability.
Not this time.
Time to pay the piper liberals.
NBC in Dallas is holding a poll:
NBC 5 Live Poll
Do you support the proposed financial government bailout?
Yes =32%
No = 56%
Undecided = 12%
I’d say they are the furthest left of all the Dallas TV stations, and their viewers think this way. Maybe its not so bad for the GOP.
I’ve got no problem with that, since it was Wall Streets’ money, not Main Streets. Maybe it means that the market was overvalued by $.1.1 trillion, meaning it was “funny money”, like most money on Wall Street these days.
For everyone complaining that they lost money today, maybe you didn’t really have that money to begin with. Maybe the Wall Street scamsters just made you think that you did.
I’m tired of all the homeowners that lost money with their OVERPRICED homes.
Now the stocket marketers are whining the same tune.
Maybe it’s time that people realize they are worth less than they thought they were. The Greenspan bubbles were just an illusion.
CommonSense:
“I do worry about my parents though. They worked hard for their money and were the grasshoppers in the fable. They shouldn’t have to worry about this stuff now that they’re retired.”
I hope you meant they were the Ant…
As a life-long Republican, I must disagree with many on this board. There is the academic Ivory Tower of principles, and then there is reality. And the reality is that this crisis is going to hurt Americans that played by the rules and did not make/take risky loans. The far reaching consequences of the credit crunch will hit everyone, even all of you on this board that think you are above it.
As the crisis worsens, there are many jobs that will be lost. And that will lead to more mortgage failures; failures of PRIME loans, as hardworking, responsible people will be engulfed in debt.
777 points is 1 TRILLION dollars in market value…that is a big deal. Wake up and smell the coffee….because in the not so distant future many of you smug people on the board might have to live by your own mantra and “suck it up”.
Sure the bill was tough to swallow, but it beats the alternative
Part of the disasterous market fall today can be traced to the complete failure of the Three Stooges (San Fran Nan, Reid, and Dodd) to manage expectations. These fools were busy parading around all weekend bragging about how the bailout was a done deal what great work they all did. Obviously, they were dead wrong and when the market woke up on Monday to learn that there was nothing close to a bailout, they over-reacted like people always do then they think something they “had” has been taken from them. When are politicians ever gonna learn to manage expectations?
This is the way it used to be. I remember going for my first home loan ages ago. I was making $39K and wanted a loan for $70K. I had to go through the third degree to get that approved. I had perfect credit, a good job for 4 years — I was only in the workforce for about 7 years by then.
I finally got approved, but it was a tremendous amount of work on my part. Very strict requirements. The rate was obnoxious too — 10% fixed rate 30 year.
On September 29th, 2008 at 5:57 pm, Mr. Lietuva said:
Slavery in exchange for economic security is NOT an equitable trade!
I’d rather eat grass in the park (without any salad dressing!) than be a slave to Barney Frank’s causes du jour!
I suspect the same people who can not see the highs and lows over the long-term economically are the same ones who can not see the highs and lows of Earth’s temperature over the long-term either. Cyclical people, it’s all cyclical.
Is Al Gore selling investment off-sets?
I have yet to see definitive proof this plan will even work. What if it doesn’t? They will want, what, 1.4 trillion next time? If doesn’t stop here it never will.
Mark-to-Market.
Fix it and you fix the problem.
Mr. Lietuva,
If you didn’t pull your money out of the market when this thing started months ago, sorry.
Yes, look what happened to Wachovia, the biggest bank here in the Northern Virginia area that loaned to thousands of illegals to buy $500,000 houses when the market was at its peak.
There are neighborhoods of Hispanics that have one foreclosure after another, and I bet Wachovia was behind a lot of these loans. When you call Wachovia, this is the first thing you get: “para espanol, oprime siete.”
Great business move, Wachovia.
I’d say that’s pretty well put.
More than anything, the bailout plan’s main intended benefit seemed to be a psychological one: keep the Nervous Nellies in the market from turning their psychic meltdowns into their NYSE equivalents.
But then again, this morning I read about a survey in which 1/3 of respondents said they believed we are already in a “depression.”
A 778 point one-day drop is a correction. Question comes, whether it’s a one-or-two day wonder, or if it keeps repeating itself. If it goes on, expect another round of Federal legislation.
And probably even if it doesn’t, too.
I like the way you think. There will always be buyers looking for a bargain.
Fixed it for you.
Fortunately for my family, we can and will weather this storm just fine, we did think ahead. But, I know many people, who did the right things and played by the rules, who will probably be hurt quite bad.
Again, the bill was flawed, but I think we’re in for one heck of a roller coaster ride that most of you are “playing the fiddle” to as Rome burns down around you.
Oh yeah, and let’s not forget while the stock market was crashing in 2000 (under Clinton, I might add), Mr. Greenspan sat on his hands, refusing to lower the rates until it was way too late. That accelerated the crash which took years to recover from.
• CREDIBILITY GAP – “We’re in a crisis, BUT we’re taking a couple of days off????” EXCUSE ME? I’ve worked through many holidays.
• MARKETS – “Go long, or be wrong”. Unless you are a day trader, do NOT invest your life savings in the highly volatile stock market.
• ALTERNATIVE PLAN – The “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” Plan. If Paulson and his “peeps” are so confident in this “Bailout” idea, then THEY should do it. Paulson could throw a “Wall Street Bailout Bash”, with a few select friends, and come up with 700 billion of their own. In fact, Warren Buffet HAS injected 1 Billion into Goldman Sachs.
• “WHITE COLLAR COPS – WALL STREET”. While the House members are listening to the “people”, they are NOT REALLY listening. We need to see the shyster Mortgage brokers & Investment Bankers taken down & hauled off in hand cuffs.
So, far I’ve only seen arrests with the one group in Vegas , who wrote up millions of dollars worth of fraudulent loans.
BUT, THIS WAS NOT HAPPENING “ONLY IN VEGAS”.
Seriously though… when credit is no longer available in the US, our economy will stop dead in its tracks. What then? I love a free market enconomy but there is no such thing as a free market in the global economy. Can we really weather this? I am truly concened. However, I am THRILLED the crap sandwich didn’t pass.
Come on, for all these extreme down days in the market, in recent memory there has also been some great “up” days that the stupid media never talks about.
Goldman Sachs has already gained a point in after hours trading. Warren Buffet bought $5B worth of Goldman last week, his purchase entitled him to warrants at a strike price of $115/ share. GS is currently at $122.50 and climbing. What down market? For people like Buffet and other smart investors, this type of market is better than a shopping mall.
On September 29th, 2008 at 5:37 pm, nyc123me said:
No, no irony there. Obviously you dont know much about me but you can easily research me from past posts.
I have several retirement plans, investments, bank accounts and a pension. If I took a loss today then oh well….. its called diversification.
I mentioned earlier that I have virtually ZERO debt, so yeh I guess I’m in relatively good shape.
So who cares about the rest of the country? I do. Its called fiscal and personal responsility. You have the same access to financial information as I do, so whats your issue? Let everyone else panic and then YOU TOO can pick up their scraps at the firesell.
There is no doubt that the situation is serious and it would be very poor taste indeed for someone to take delight in it. But no one is, except those political types who think this means a shoe-in for the democrats come November.
The bill was awful, just terrible. It deserved defeat and got it. Taking the attitude of “Let’s-spend-700-billion-now-because-I-can’t-handle-this!” is grossly irresponsible. The government took its sweet time getting into this mess. Well, they can take what time is required to get us out — to see at the very least that the system is reformed so this doesn’t happen again.
Over at the NRO many “conservatives,” though not all, are panicking: we’re all doomed, damn house Republicans, etc. Or at the very least, the next bill will be even worse (and there is that risk.) Yes, friends of the free market, there are all kinds of risks here. But blindly passing a wretched bill is no way to ameliorate them. It’s like going to a doctor and saying:
“Doc, I’ve hurt my finger and now it is infected. Do something, anything now, just as long as it costs me a lot of money!”
“No problem,” says old Doc Democrat as he pulls out a sledgehammer. “This will make you forget all about that finger.”
We’ve got to do better and with the bill’s defeat, there is that opportunity. No guarantee, just an opportunity.
Mr. Lietuva,
Why can’t you see that the American people rejected “buying” toxic assets in the same way we rejected “comprehensive immigration”?
There are incremental approaches to any problem.
The SEC has the mark-tomarket tool available to them now. It could happen tonight. And, Congress can easily expand FDIC limits to reduce runs on banks. They both go to the real problem: Credit.
777 points is a trillion dollar loss.
Only if you sell. The markets will weed out all the weak players. Weak businesses will fail. Many of my consumer clients had banked on home equity loans to finance their purchases.
That business dried up 18 months ago.
I’m not saying I saw this disaster coming, but I took steps to protect my assets back then.
Buy low, sell high.
There are Treasury bonds to invest in, savings accts, money markets, bond markets, etc that you could invest in. You could also put your money in a shoebox in the closet or bury the cash in the backyard. Your rate of return will be minimal to negative based on the rate of inflation. The stock market has risk. If you paid attention, you would notice that there are no guarantees, and that you are alerted to the risk by law. If you chose to ignore that, or are too stupid to get it, you will get what you deserve.
Investing is risky. Anyone who starts a business and invests money may lose all of it! That is why they deserve to make a good return on their investment including becoming “rich”. They incur the risk. Liberals think they should not have to incur any risk in order to get the good return. They just want to play class warfare and take it from those who took the risk and were successful. Classic.
Next you’ll be telling us how you didn’t read the fine print and corrupt stockbrokers ripped you off. Key word there is “you”.
Media Loves Panic.
I was watching CNBC and the furrowed brows were full effect. They were badgering a republican from TX that voted against the bill… started giving him the “with all due respect”.. he handled it well.
they also had the “I don’t tell them how to do politics so don’t tell me about the markets” thing going on.
They wouldn’t hear about a better solution. They just want the Dem /Bush solution. Unreal.
Here to hoping that it drops AT LEAST another 2000 points.
Crazy you say? Crazy like a collie. I’ve been hording cash for a while now, sitting on the fence like a buzzard – sorta’ like a modern day Potter (of Bedford Falls fame). When I figure that this thing has finally bottomed out, that’s when I’m going to go out and BUY LIKE MAD.
It’s how a lot of people got filthy rich in the 1930s ya’ know. IT’S MY TIME BABY!
My collie says:
Yeah. But within 10 years, I’ll be a filthy rich crank — and you’ll no longer have any reason to envy Leona Helmsley’s mutts.
As I have stated before, the commercial insurance market has been heating up recently. New business starts are part of the reason why. Business owners and potential business owners do NOT start new businesses when the market is uncertain and money can’t be borrowed. At least as far as my perspective these two factors don’t seem to be an overiding issue at this time.
In all this chaos, there is opportunity.
Fortune favors the bold.
Here’s a link to Jon Markman at MSN.
He’s been pretty accurate about how all of this will unfold and how bad it really is:
link
I hope some of you won’t confuse exasperation with smugness. There are many experts (and common people) who have been predicting all of this for a long time. The fact that our political and financial leaders did NOTHING to avoid this mess is disgusting.
CyberCipher has it correct.
Bottom feeders like me will do the same thing. I have a bit of cash waiting for the right opportunity…whether it’s tomorrow or next week or whatever. I’m ready to buy into companies I’ve been eyeballing now for a year.
Now, if they would only eliminate the CAP GAINS tax, I’d be really happy! Even if it’s for a year! I’ll take anything!
Typically when this happens to the markets, they come back even stronger. Just a matter of time and patience. I’ve been through these before.
Not a time to panic.
All this trouble and the dems cannot find a single person to blame.
If this were a republican caused problem the catter-walling for hearings would be deafening.
Where is Henry “Bobo” Waxman?
Why hasn’t he already been threatening to drag people before the docket?
People ask yourself a question?
Why are the dems so quiet about looking into this?
You all know why!
Their liberal policies caused this!
No scalps! No deal!
I do think this needs a name though.
I vote for naming this the “OBAMA CRASH”
Any others?
Refresh me on what I REALLY need credit for… to buy another car? another TV? More season tickets? another cruise?
The real litmus test will be the massive flood of illegals going back to where they came from. Here let me check real quick…….
nope, they are still out there mowing the grass.
Maybe everyone needs to refresh themselves on john Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’. There should be a lot of California agricultural jobs opening up soon if this is real.
Heck, it should be really cheap to DIG for oil soon.
Too busy telling people to put out their cigarettes.
Michelle you are a brave woman taking this stance. I agree with you. Keep fighting.
Well, I just increased my contribution to my 401k… this is a great buying opportunity for me.
As to those close to retirement, I hpe that you aren’t being too aggressive in your portfolios…any financial advisor worht their salt (and 99.99 percent of us AREN’T crooks) will have yu allocated properly.
Remember the older you are, the more conservative you should be.
With the savings rate at less than 2%, it’s no wonder people are panicking…those of us who run on cash and have little debt and invest (even in the hard times of sucking it up and paying off said debt) are resting a bit easier tonight, I believe.
So take a lesson…get out of debt and invest for the long term…no debt means no one owns you and retirement savings, appropriately allocated means you don’t have to depend on Uncle Sam.
That’s patriotic!
I guess Citibank didn’t get the memo. I just got another letter begging me to take out another credit card!
My retirement is invested in the market and I’m not choosing to panic….I only have 10 maybe 15 years until I would like to retire but I will adjust….