Wall Street awakes to 2 storied firms falling

[Torre82]

Obama called it "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression." McCain declared in a new TV ad that "our economy is in crisis" and that only he and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, could fix it. McCain also told voters in Jacksonville, Fla., "The fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Glad to see at least someone notices the gaping money pit of reality we're in.

Better go buy a bike.. the roads might be pretty empty if the second great depression is right around the corner.

 

[Member2019]

Doesn't surprise me one bit ...

Doesn't surprise me one bit.
This should have happened years ago.

First we put money into stocks, and they failed.
Then we moved money into real estate, and that failed.
What did people expect?

These things take years to shake out.

We produce nothing, which the .COM bust showed.
We overvalued land, which the real estate bust showed.

Now we're left with only commodities.
And they're only going to go up.

Although it's been entertaining watching the two candidates spending millions to tell me how they don't remotely understand anything.
Anything other than how to feed the rhetoric and spew the same ole' same ole' that is.

 

[LBP 76]

I think the U.S. economy will be okay in a year or two. Congress will put some mildly effective controls into place so that this exact same thing won't happen again and people's confidence will go back to relative normal. And the U.S. economy can once again be strong (though all the while very slowly eroding in it's position as THE world economy; but that will probably take many years). All this should come to pass so long as the average American doesn't panic. Because when they don't panic; they keep spending money and keep the economy going.
But if Mr. and Mrs. Average American panics, stops spending and takes their monies out of financial institutions (because they don't trust that their monies are safe); then the shit will really hit the fan and a depression is very likely (though for not nearly as long as the 30's one).
Solid economies are all about (imo) keeping people from getting too rich or too poor and ALWAYS keeping consumer confidence relatively high.

 

[maildude]

I'm watching my TSP retirement portfolio disappear. :dunno:

 

[Member2019]

Today is different ...

I think the U.S. economy will be okay in a year or two. Congress will put some mildly effective controls into place so that this exact same thing won't happen again and people's confidence will go back to relative normal. And the U.S. economy can once again be strong (though all the while very slowly eroding in it's position as THE world economy; but that will probably take many years). All this should come to pass so long as the average American doesn't panic. Because when they don't panic; they keep spending money and keep the economy going.
But if Mr. and Mrs. Average American panics, stops spending and takes their monies out of financial institutions (because they don't trust that their monies are safe); then the shit will really hit the fan and a depression is very likely (though for not nearly as long as the 30's one).
Solid economies are all about (imo) keeping people from getting too rich or too poor and ALWAYS keeping consumer confidence relatively high.

Today is different.
We're not the pure capitalist society like we were in the '20s through early '30s.
As I said, we're moving from facist to socialist.

Which means people just need to get used to the US GDP being 50% of what it was.
And 10% unemployment will be the norm, instead of sub-5%, but nothing like the 25% of the Depression.

The medical industry as a profit option is going to be the next casualty.
Sorry to all those doctors and companies who thought otherwise, their money is going to be tied up.

 

[don_equis]

So, spending billions and billions and billions of our own dollars to help bail out foreign countries is a better way to handle our finances? :dunno:

What ever happened to taking care of your own first and others second? No wonder our country is on a downhill slope to Shitsville.

"Wow, we are having some serious financial difficulties honey, what should we do?"
"I KNOW!!! Let's take a bunch of money, that we can't afford to spend, and just GIVE IT AWAY FOR NO REASON!!!"
"Brilliant my dear...brilliant. What could go wrong?"

Our government is run by jackasses.

On point!! Let's all get into the porn bizz it never goes into into recession!!

 

[om3ga]

Apologies for the bump, but I've been watching programmes on BBC News, CNN & Bloomberg about the anniversary of the fall of Lehman Bros:

Lehman one year on: winners & losers

On one show, Henry Paulson now admits the authorities miscalculated by letting Lehman go under; they simply didn't realise the global consequences caused by the demise of such a financial giant....

(D'oh!)

 

[busenbust]

Paulson=Corrupt Greedy Bastard.