WILL THE LATEST ROUND OF ECONOMIC CHAOS IMPACT YOU?

[Silver Surfer]

I saw something on CNBC yesteday and they went back to 1931 and quoted Hoover as saying "the economy is fundamentally sound" and now current adminstration is singing the same tune. They have to continue to downplay how dire it is otherwise it will open the flood gates.

 

So called financial experts who have their own show (bozos like Jim Cramer) have gone on record as telling the masses to hold their positions in Bear Sterns months before it collpased, "financials stocks have hit bottom in July", "the sub-prime, Bear Sterns bailout won't spill over into the market", etc, etc.

[Gone Phishin']

sounds like you will be living at home heff. nothing wrong with that though, what's the big rush to go out in the real world and pay market rents and never save a dime.

 

Hopefully I wont have to move back home, but I do plan on going to Grad school so I will be taking out loans..

[skypinkblu]

King I agree with you but the current situation seems to be a lot scarier than recent crisis in the last 20-25 years. If Greenspan says this is the worse he has ever seen it in his lifetime then I think we are for a couple very tough years.

 

Well, I think that in situations like this, the situation you are currently in will appear to be the worst. Memories tend to fade, so the situation of the past will often appear less significant as time goes on. Not only that, but the living population has not experienced most of our countries history obviously, so the only way for the population to be aware that this situation is not uncommon would be to research it. I'm not saying it isn't rough, but it has a tendency to happen from time to time. I think the media is trying (and successfully) to scare people. I'm not discounting Greenspan either. He is a well knowledged invididual to say the least!

I've spent a lot of years working for the Dept of Labor, my expertise is in the field of Unemployment Insurance. These jobs that are being lost now, are going to multiply, the backlash is later. Lots of the people in the financial fields employed other people, they won't be able to continue, and that's not only household help, but restaurants, clothing stores, construction, electronics, travel, all kinds of of other people. The numbers are not horrid right now (and there IS an underground economy) but the numbers traditionally rise by December.

I am rarely worried, I put my 401K into stable income a long time ago...but I'm not real comfy right now, that domino effect is going to occur...the question is, how far they will fall.

[bronzilla]

We are hunkered down here in Scottsdale Az waiting out this mess and hoping the Economy at some point turns around. Our Family Construction Buisness "we do Drywall and Stucco" is extremly slow and has been for a year or so.

 

Most of my family works for me and my son has recently come aboard as well. The pressure of knowing your Family as well as all our employees familys relying on our buisness to feed and clothe them can be very stressfull. I have had to make tuff decisions with people I really like as our company has downsized. It is never easy letting people go.

 

I have never been buisier even though housing is dead. When the Pie shrinks you have to work to get a bigger slice. The only way to do that is thru upping sales. So I am working later days than I am used to.

 

I have seen many of my competitors go out of buisness this last year, People I assumed were financially sound, companys who have been around for years. It can be very sobering seeing this happen all around you.

 

We are in a better position than most, both personally and in our buisness, as we have no debt, period. We pay no interest to any Bank and we havent for years.

 

Staying out of debt is the only saving grace we have I really feel for people who are struggling right now. My "struggling" is not buying as many Funny books as I like.

Most are worried how they will pay the mortgage or feed the kids.

[KingOfRulers]

King I agree with you but the current situation seems to be a lot scarier than recent crisis in the last 20-25 years. If Greenspan says this is the worse he has ever seen it in his lifetime then I think we are for a couple very tough years.

 

Well, I think that in situations like this, the situation you are currently in will appear to be the worst. Memories tend to fade, so the situation of the past will often appear less significant as time goes on. Not only that, but the living population has not experienced most of our countries history obviously, so the only way for the population to be aware that this situation is not uncommon would be to research it. I'm not saying it isn't rough, but it has a tendency to happen from time to time. I think the media is trying (and successfully) to scare people. I'm not discounting Greenspan either. He is a well knowledged invididual to say the least!

 

For once, I actually think the media is trying to be somewhat level-headed about the news. When the federal government (with a Re publican president) loans a private insurance company $85 billion to prevent its failure, things are bad. When the Russian stock market has to halt trading and the Russian government has to bail out the three main Russian banks, things are bad. (Russia owns quite a bit of our debt.) The head of the IMF is saying that the worst is still ahead of us, and a lot of economists are agreeing with him. What is even scarier is that there aren't that many knowledgeable people who are disagreeing with him. This is not to say that the doomsayers are 100% correct, but there isn't a clear road out of this hole for at least a couple of years.

 

The president doesn't have much to do with it. I'm not sure, but as far as I am aware it requires a vote from the Federal Reserve Board. This provision of bailing a company like this wasn't a product of the President Bush. It was first put into play in the 1930s as part of the Federal Reserve Act.

[The Black Hand ®]

We've been easing out of risky investments over the past couple of years and we should be fine, but we would be making a lot more in a good economy. We have no debt and own our home outright along with other investments, but no one is truly safe.

[KingOfRulers]

I saw something on CNBC yesteday and they went back to 1931 and quoted Hoover as saying "the economy is fundamentally sound" and now current adminstration is singing the same tune. They have to continue to downplay how dire it is otherwise it will open the flood gates.

 

So called financial experts who have their own show (bozos like Jim Cramer) have gone on record as telling the masses to hold their positions in Bear Sterns months before it collpased, "financials stocks have hit bottom in July", "the sub-prime, Bear Sterns bailout won't spill over into the market", etc, etc.

 

I know all about what Cramer said, and that seems out of context. He did not say to hold the Bear Sterns stock. From what I know, he was referring to if you have an account with Bear Sterns. Not if you own their stock. However, that's not the publicity that his remarks recieved.

[Gone Phishin']

The government should really look into legalizing marijuana. I am not saying this because I am a frequent user, which I am, but the government would make a mess load of money off this. You could use the by products to make clothing, paper, try to make fuel out of it.. plus it tastes pretty good (most of the time). The drug industry in America is HUGE. I know plenty of that money isnt marijuana related, but think of how much the gov't could bank on nugs?

[Lego]

King I agree with you but the current situation seems to be a lot scarier than recent crisis in the last 20-25 years. If Greenspan says this is the worse he has ever seen it in his lifetime then I think we are for a couple very tough years.

 

Well, I think that in situations like this, the situation you are currently in will appear to be the worst. Memories tend to fade, so the situation of the past will often appear less significant as time goes on. Not only that, but the living population has not experienced most of our countries history obviously, so the only way for the population to be aware that this situation is not uncommon would be to research it. I'm not saying it isn't rough, but it has a tendency to happen from time to time. I think the media is trying (and successfully) to scare people. I'm not discounting Greenspan either. He is a well knowledged invididual to say the least!

 

Greenspan is a sellout. He was great before he started suckling at the government teat and suddenly reversed all his prior Libertarian positions.

 

And if you don't think we're totally , I encourage you to read "Empire of Debt" or watch the film "I.O.U.S.A". Educate yourself on the situation before you attribute everything to "just another" fabrication by the media. The media isn't the one putting us $50 trillion dollars in debt, and the media isn't the one who put us at the very BOTTOM of the list of global economic powers.

[aardvark88]

Lots of mj seeds in Vancouver, BC. Will trade for comics to stimulate the USA economy. I just bought a hemp golf shirt last month as a gift.

[JvR11]

King I agree with you but the current situation seems to be a lot scarier than recent crisis in the last 20-25 years. If Greenspan says this is the worse he has ever seen it in his lifetime then I think we are for a couple very tough years.

 

Well, I think that in situations like this, the situation you are currently in will appear to be the worst. Memories tend to fade, so the situation of the past will often appear less significant as time goes on. Not only that, but the living population has not experienced most of our countries history obviously, so the only way for the population to be aware that this situation is not uncommon would be to research it. I'm not saying it isn't rough, but it has a tendency to happen from time to time. I think the media is trying (and successfully) to scare people. I'm not discounting Greenspan either. He is a well knowledged invididual to say the least!

I've spent a lot of years working for the Dept of Labor, my expertise is in the field of Unemployment Insurance. These jobs that are being lost now, are going to multiply, the backlash is later. Lots of the people in the financial fields employed other people, they won't be able to continue, and that's not only household help, but restaurants, clothing stores, construction, electronics, travel, all kinds of of other people. The numbers are not horrid right now (and there IS an underground economy) but the numbers traditionally rise by December.

I am rarely worried, I put my 401K into stable income a long time ago...but I'm not real comfy right now, that domino effect is going to occur...the question is, how far they will fall.

 

Just wait until December/January when the companies have to "clean up" their books.

[Gone Phishin']

Lots of mj seeds in Vancouver, BC. Will trade for comics to stimulate the USA economy. I just bought a hemp golf shirt last month as a gift.

 

Hemp is also a lot cheaper to produce than cotton.. I love when my cousins bring me down goodies from BC!! higher than a kite I tell ya

 

*cough cough* Ill take some seeds anyways to help the cause!

[Flash105]

I think the next thing to go is consumer confidence. This buy out of AIG is hugh. I'm surprised the government did a bail out. I think we'll see more mergers...my bet is Washington Mutual is next. Other investment banks are taking a beating just because they are "investment banks". Crazy times. I guess now is the time to invest in some real estate if you have the money...my guess is inflation is going to make the $$ slid more. It's hard to believe at one time the Euro was right on with the dollar.

I'm thinking at least for the next year I'm pretty well insulated except for inflation and home prices.

 

Technically speaking this was not a bail out since the Fed actually bought the company so to speak by getting warrants on all of the equity. The Fed actually stands to make a lot of money off of AIG at the expense of their shareholders. It is a shame that a short term liquidity crisis can bring down a company with a trillion dollars in assets that are mostly good. When the smoke clears most of the write downs will end up being written back up.

 

On the personal side, I consider myself very lucky. I have always traded stocks and since the end of 2006 I made three great moves. I had a lot of AIG and GS and cashed at 72 & 212. I put all of that in XOM and SLB and cashed out at 91 and 114. I then put that in DUG when oil was 147 and rode it all the way down to 91 which gave me a double on DUG. I am thinking about RIG and SLB but have not pulled the trigger yet. But we are very close to a bottom on oil service stocks in my opinion.

[JvR11]

I think the next thing to go is consumer confidence. This buy out of AIG is hugh. I'm surprised the government did a bail out. I think we'll see more mergers...my bet is Washington Mutual is next. Other investment banks are taking a beating just because they are "investment banks". Crazy times. I guess now is the time to invest in some real estate if you have the money...my guess is inflation is going to make the $$ slid more. It's hard to believe at one time the Euro was right on with the dollar.

I'm thinking at least for the next year I'm pretty well insulated except for inflation and home prices.

 

Technically speaking this was not a bail out since the Fed actually bought the company so to speak by getting warrants on all of the equity. The Fed actually stands to make a lot of money off of AIG at the expense of their shareholders. It is a shame that a short term liquidity crisis can bring down a company with a trillion dollars in assets that are mostly good. When the smoke clears most of the write downs will end up being written back up.

 

On the personal side, I consider myself very lucky. I have always traded stocks and since the end of 2006 I made three great moves. I had a lot of AIG and GS and cashed at 72 & 212. I put all of that in XOM and SLB and cashed out at 91 and 114. I then put that in DUG when oil was 147 and rode it all the way down to 91 which gave me a double on DUG. I am thinking about RIG and SLB but have not pulled the trigger yet. But we are very close to a bottom on oil service stocks in my opinion.

 

I really hope we don't see any "golden parachutes". It really urks me when these executives get these sweet deals when the company tanks. If the average joe could see that housing prices were over the top and that lending money to someone with no job and credit was a bad thing...it just leaves me wondering why these investment banks let this go... I'm thinking two things greed and timing. They probably thought they'd have a few good years left to cash in before it all blew up. The government is also partially to blame for allowing these loans to take place.

[KingOfRulers]

I think the next thing to go is consumer confidence. This buy out of AIG is hugh. I'm surprised the government did a bail out. I think we'll see more mergers...my bet is Washington Mutual is next. Other investment banks are taking a beating just because they are "investment banks". Crazy times. I guess now is the time to invest in some real estate if you have the money...my guess is inflation is going to make the $$ slid more. It's hard to believe at one time the Euro was right on with the dollar.

I'm thinking at least for the next year I'm pretty well insulated except for inflation and home prices.

 

Technically speaking this was not a bail out since the Fed actually bought the company so to speak by getting warrants on all of the equity. The Fed actually stands to make a lot of money off of AIG at the expense of their shareholders. It is a shame that a short term liquidity crisis can bring down a company with a trillion dollars in assets that are mostly good. When the smoke clears most of the write downs will end up being written back up.

 

On the personal side, I consider myself very lucky. I have always traded stocks and since the end of 2006 I made three great moves. I had a lot of AIG and GS and cashed at 72 & 212. I put all of that in XOM and SLB and cashed out at 91 and 114. I then put that in DUG when oil was 147 and rode it all the way down to 91 which gave me a double on DUG. I am thinking about RIG and SLB but have not pulled the trigger yet. But we are very close to a bottom on oil service stocks in my opinion.

 

I really hope we don't see any "golden parachutes". It really urks me when these executives get these sweet deals when the company tanks. If the average joe could see that housing prices were over the top and that lending money to someone with no job and credit was a bad thing...it just leaves me wondering why these investment banks let this go... I'm thinking two things greed and timing. They probably thought they'd have a few good years left to cash in before it all blew up. The government is also partially to blame for allowing these loans to take place.

 

I'd say the people to blame are the ones taking loans that they could not afford to pay back. That seems like the bottom line to me. They dug their own grave on their own free will. The banks just gave them a shovel to dig with. It is very unfortunate that so many had this problem, but it seems like that is what happened.

 

As far as AIG goes. As said before, the government is going to be in on AIG for quite a while. Isn't it something like a 77.9% stake or something like that? And I'd agree, being that the bailout is coming from a federal reserve provision and that it is of a company where the assets are liquid...why would the government not do it since it is clearly written in their power?

[bronzilla]

I think the next thing to go is consumer confidence. This buy out of AIG is hugh. I'm surprised the government did a bail out. I think we'll see more mergers...my bet is Washington Mutual is next. Other investment banks are taking a beating just because they are "investment banks". Crazy times. I guess now is the time to invest in some real estate if you have the money...my guess is inflation is going to make the $$ slid more. It's hard to believe at one time the Euro was right on with the dollar.

I'm thinking at least for the next year I'm pretty well insulated except for inflation and home prices.

 

Technically speaking this was not a bail out since the Fed actually bought the company so to speak by getting warrants on all of the equity. The Fed actually stands to make a lot of money off of AIG at the expense of their shareholders. It is a shame that a short term liquidity crisis can bring down a company with a trillion dollars in assets that are mostly good. When the smoke clears most of the write downs will end up being written back up.

 

On the personal side, I consider myself very lucky. I have always traded stocks and since the end of 2006 I made three great moves. I had a lot of AIG and GS and cashed at 72 & 212. I put all of that in XOM and SLB and cashed out at 91 and 114. I then put that in DUG when oil was 147 and rode it all the way down to 91 which gave me a double on DUG. I am thinking about RIG and SLB but have not pulled the trigger yet. But we are very close to a bottom on oil service stocks in my opinion.

 

I really hope we don't see any "golden parachutes". It really urks me when these executives get these sweet deals when the company tanks. If the average joe could see that housing prices were over the top and that lending money to someone with no job and credit was a bad thing...it just leaves me wondering why these investment banks let this go... I'm thinking two things greed and timing. They probably thought they'd have a few good years left to cash in before it all blew up. The government is also partially to blame for allowing these loans to take place.

 

I'd say the people to blame are the ones taking loans that they could not afford to pay back. That seems like the bottom line to me. They dug their own grave on their own free will. The banks just gave them a shovel to dig with.

 

As far as AIG goes. As said before, the government is going to be in on AIG for quite a while. Isn't it something like a 77.9% stake or something like that? And I'd agree, being that the bailout is coming from a federal reserve provision and that it is of a company where the assets are liquid...why would the government not do it since it is clearly written in their power?

Yes People taking loans out they couldnt afford have responsibility of course.

But Banks and Lenders and the employees writing up all those loans made a ton of money off of a lot of ignorant people and a lot of people who just couldnt afford the House. To say all they did was give them a shovel to dig there own grave seems a bit one sided.

[piper]

Nothing but jobs here, most common complaint is that you can't find anyone to hire.

 

 

Medical, Construction, Engineering, Legal, Service Industry jobs can all be found in Alberta! Times are good!!

[CAP Freak]

Nothing but jobs here, most common complaint is that you can't find anyone to hire.

 

 

Medical, Construction, Engineering, Legal, Service Industry jobs can all be found in Alberta! Times are good!!

Plus you guys have that sweet gigantic mall to spend your glorious cash,

[Shark]

As of right now the current economic chaos hasn't affected me that directly other than my 401k plan losing some money. My company is part of a GE division and I've watched GE common stock drop about 20% in the last week, about 13-14% this week alone. Luckily, very little of my 401K is invested in GE stock so I'm in decent shape there.

 

My big problem right now is the fact that the facility I work at in northern Illinois has been put up for sale and the future for my part of the business doesn't look very promising. Our gut feel is someone will buy the business at the front of our building and divest itself of our part of the business. So I'm busy looking through CareerBuilder, Monster and many of the other online job search websites. I'm also entertaining the idea of becoming a manufacturing consultant but the problem with that is no health insurance.

 

I also may actually just kick back and sell comics full time for a while should my job in fact be lost in the near future. I've half-kiddingly complained to my wife in the recent past that my day job is getting in the way of my night job (the comics) so I might actually do that for a short time and see how it goes. Maybe I can finally get rid of some of my thousands of dupes.

 

I am more than just a little concerned about the overall financial picture in the United States right now. High gas prices, high oil prices, high electrical bills, high property taxes, home values going down, stock market's in the tank.....right now it's ALL bad news. We're either headed for a deep recession or (heaven forbid) another depression.

 

Shark

[TupennyConan]

This latest round of economic chaos has impacted my bowels.