The US Economy and Current Financial Crisis

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I really thought this bailout would provide a little relief in the short term, but I may have been dead wrong. Things are heading south fast.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

They want you to ditch your 401k

Chief among them was eliminating $80 billion in tax savings for higher-income people

 

your 401k

higher-income people

 

I am not, nor ever will be, described as a "higher-income person," so no.

 

Full-fledged crash, although there was an upturn after it was down nearly 800 minutes after opening. GM's getting hammered. We're fucked.

How many people still use GM as a barometer of the American economy? I don't know many loyal GM buyers anymore. Everyone buys Toyota and Honda, because we're all sick and tired of the power windows stop working and the trim falling off and the air-con dying on it's fourth year.

 

It's not the engines that GM has problems with (well, Northstar has issues) it's the fucking bargain bin plastic.

 

I've been waiting for the blood the flow there for a long time.

 

EDIT: Wait a minute, I see GM up 7%.

[At Home 0]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/...amp;oref=slogin

 

Pretty compelling argument.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Wachovia shot up 43% today. Hope y'all bought some stock.

[SuperJerk 0]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/...amp;oref=slogin

 

Pretty compelling argument.

 

 

This killed the article for me:

Too bad this line of thinking is seriously flawed. The non-financial sectors of our economy will not suffer much from even a prolonged banking crisis, because the general economic importance of banks has been highly exaggerated.

 

Although banks perform an essential economic function — bringing together investors and savers — they are not the only institutions that can do this.

 

I don't agree that the importance of banks has been exaggerated, given how important credit is to the purchasing of manufactured goods, and what an important sector of the economy that is and will continue to be.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

There were some seriously flawed assumptions in that article. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but his analysis flies in the face of what nearly every single economist is saying about our economy. This financial crisis is a prelude to other sectors failing in next 12-18 months, which is an important factor he missed.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Apparently Nancy Pelosi thinks we need another $150 billion worth of checks sent out to everyone, and that'll fix the economy!

 

Lets just create 100 gazillion dollars and send everyone a Billion Dollar check. "Here, you're now a billionaire..congratulations!" think of what that would do for the morale of the American people! Too bad a loaf of bread would cost like..1 million dollars but hey, you could buy 1,000 loaves!

 

 

[Nightwing 0]

Apparently Nancy Pelosi thinks we need another $150 billion worth of checks sent out to everyone, and that'll fix the economy!

 

Lets just create 100 gazillion dollars and send everyone a Billion Dollar check. "Here, you're now a billionaire..congratulations!" think of what that would do for the morale of the American people! Too bad a loaf of bread would cost like..1 million dollars but hey, you could buy 1,000 loaves!

 

Indeed. We need people who won't just be sending huge tax rebate checks out as a way of solving the economy, like the Republican P-

 

Oh.

[SuperJerk 0]

I really thought this bailout would provide a little relief in the short term, but I may have been dead wrong. Things are heading south fast.

 

The economy doesn't work instananeously, though. The bail-out was only passed about a week ago. The $700 billion hasn't been spent yet, and nobodies even sure exactly how its going to be used.

 

Stock prices are still dropping because there's still a lot of anxiety and uncertainty on the part of the traders, because people are trying to dump too many stocks at once.

 

We need to give it a little more time before we decide if this worked or not.

[Guest]

The point of the bailout was to prevent a market crash, and to restore confidence in the investor. If the market crashes before they can appropriate the funds, it was a complete and total failure. They already failed on one end. Simple as.

 

Chances are that we'll call it a complete failure by the end of next week.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The point of the bailout was to prevent a market crash, and to restore confidence in the investor. If the market crashes before they can appropriate the funds, it was a complete and total failure. They already failed on one end. Simple as.

 

Chances are that we'll call it a complete failure by the end of next week.

 

No, the point of the bailout was to loosen the credit markets and keep banks from becoming totally insolvent. The consumer confidence was sort of supposed to come with it. They've failed on the confidence front, but we've yet to see if credit returns. That won't be known until the bad mortgages start being purchased.

[SuperJerk 0]

The point of the bailout was to prevent a market crash, and to restore confidence in the investor. If the market crashes before they can appropriate the funds, it was a complete and total failure. They already failed on one end. Simple as.

 

Chances are that we'll call it a complete failure by the end of next week.

I think the point of the bailout was to prevent the failure of lending institutions, not to keep the Dow Jones Industrial average pumped up to a certain level.

 

You're reading too much into the market flucuations, since the composition of the Dow average is made up of lots of companies, not just credit-giving ones.

[Guest]

No, the point of the bailout was to loosen the credit markets and keep banks from becoming totally insolvent. The consumer confidence was sort of supposed to come with it. They've failed on the confidence front, but we've yet to see if credit returns. That won't be known until the bad mortgages start being purchased.

 

At which point would you then say, "it is too late for credit markets to be loosened, and the damage has already been done beyond repair?"

 

I think the point of the bailout was to prevent the failure of lending institutions, not to keep the Dow Jones Industrial average pumped up to a certain level.

I think that Paulson did not think about this plan as well as he should have prior to begging for it.

 

You're reading too much into the market flucuations, since the composition of the Dow average is made up of lots of companies, not just credit-giving ones.

 

You should maybe look at the big losers today.

 

Only two companies on the Dow are up for the year, those being JPMorgan and Wal-Mart. The rest are down in the depths.

[SuperJerk 0]

I think that Paulson did not think about this plan as well as he should have prior to begging for it.

 

No argument here.

 

You're reading too much into the market flucuations, since the composition of the Dow average is made up of lots of companies, not just credit-giving ones.

 

You should maybe look at the big losers today.

 

Only two companies on the Dow are up for the year, those being JPMorgan and Wal-Mart. The rest are down in the depths.

 

What I meant was that since the Dow is based on speculation about a cross-section of the entire economy, and not just credit-giving institutions, what we're seeing with these drops is a feeling of overall economic pessimism being given a quantitative value, but I think the financial investors will come around in time once all of this has had time to sink in.

 

Plus, we're three weeks out from the election, and that only multiplies the uncertainty factor.

 

 

[SuperJerk 0]

Reports: Chrysler, GM discuss merger, acquisition

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081011/ap_on_...er_merger_talks

 

The negotiations between 100-year-old GM and 83-year-old Chrysler began more than a month ago, according to the Times. Its sources said the chances of a merger were "50-50" as of Friday and likely would take weeks to complete.

 

I predict an upswing in the number of trucks with decals of Calvin urinating on a Ford logo if this happens.

[At Home 0]

So who's investing in the stock market?

 

I've got about $150 to spend, I expect my money to dodecatuple.

[At Home 0]

Stock market up over 550 points.

[Nightwing 0]

So who's investing in the stock market?

 

I've got about $150 to spend, I expect my money to dodecatuple.

 

Stock market up over 550 points.

 

Holy shit, what a call.

[Perfxion 0]

Dow ends up 936 points or simply put 11%

[SuperJerk 0]

Irony, thy name is the New York Post.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

So who's investing in the stock market?

 

I've got about $150 to spend, I expect my money to dodecatuple.

 

Stock market up over 550 points.

 

Holy shit, what a call.

 

Id sell right now too, tomorrow it'll probably be down as much as it gained today.

 

And also, I like that NY Post piece,

[SuperJerk 0]

Too bad it was disproven the very day it was published.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Gordon Brown saves the World Economy

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

And now its down over the last two days almost all of what it gained on Monday.

 

Oops.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

So who's investing in the stock market?

 

I've got about $150 to spend, I expect my money to dodecatuple.

 

Stock market up over 550 points.

 

Holy shit, what a call.

 

Id sell right now too, tomorrow it'll probably be down as much as it gained today.

 

And also, I like that NY Post piece,

 

And now its down over the last two days almost all of what it gained on Monday.

 

Oops.

Holy shit, what a call.

[At Home 0]

Cool. I get paid again today, good for me.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Yowza.

 

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms,” Mr. Greenspan said.

 

Referring to his free-market ideology, Mr. Greenspan added: “I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact.”

 

Mr. Waxman pressed the former Fed chair to clarify his words. “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working,” Mr. Waxman said.

 

“Absolutely, precisely,” Mr. Greenspan replied. “You know, that’s precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.”

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business...24panel.html?hp

 

[SuperJerk 0]

 

"Whoops. My bad."

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Christians decide its a good idea to pray to a Gold Bull statue on Wall Street to save the economy

 

You cant make this up.

 

 

 

[At Home 0]

Anyone hear of the latest development of the bailout? I hear that Paulson's planning on handing the bailout money to the companies with minimal, if any regulation. C/D?

 

If so, hand me my pitchfork and torch.