Your Reaction to the Current Economy

lunamoth

lunamoth

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The stock market is a roller coaster ride and people have uttered the "D" word (Depression).

Perhaps we have nothing to fear but fear itself, but for the record, which reaction best fits your response to the financial crisis, and why?


Panic
Fear
Dread
Anxiety
Concern
Calm
Opportunity

Poll to follow.
 
lunamoth said:
The stock market is a roller coaster ride and people have uttered the "D" word (Depression).

Perhaps we have nothing to fear but fear itself, but for the record, which reaction best fits your response to the financial crisis, and why?


Panic
Fear
Dread
Anxiety
Concern
Calm
Opportunity

Poll to follow.
Click to expand...

Pfdacco!! :p:rolleyes:
 
Well, my poll got lost somehow, so we'll have to wing it and just put our answers in the thread.

I see Tao has put in a vote for "all of the above." :D
 
The government offers to buy up nonperforming securities. No one can decide what they're worth or how much money will be involved. Without any kind of meanignful data on that and other fronts, how can anyone decide what's going on ?
 
Opportunity.

SOP.

The problem that exists is we've allowed folks self directed IRAs and 401ks and tied retirement programs to the stock market. That and easy online trading, for folks that shouldn't be in the market. The rule for the stock market is buy low-sell high. Everyone knows that however the average american does exactly the opposite...buys high and sells low.

This is what they are doing today. They bought when the market was inflated and going thru the roof, and then are selling as it plummets.

Stocks 101.

Question if you bought at 100 and it went to 120 how much did you make? Zero

If you bought at 100 and it goes to 20 how much did you lose? Zero.

You only make or lose money if you sell. Folks think their stock value was high, but it wasn't unless they sold. Folks think they lost a bundle in their 401ks, but they didn't unless they sold.

Folks in the know buy as it goes down and sell as it goes up...

Stocks, houses, bank notes it doen't matter...folks who don't know do the opposite buy at the top and sell at the bottom...

So buy houses, stocks, notes at a discount.

Opportunity.
 
I agree with wil that it's an opportunity. I disagree with him about the kind of opportunity it is. Stock markets? Forget them. Housing? Planet Earth. We need to focus on our ultimate houses, our ecosystems. Unfortunately, short-sightedness and greed continue to be the modus operandi of those with political power, so we will have a worsening of our problems. $700 billion has just been stolen from the general American population and given to elites. That's $700 billion that could have been put into civil service programs like Americorps and into non-profits and citizens groups working on the serious issue of the day, which is the other collapse and the other meltdown: the collapse of ecosystems brought about by the meltdown of global warming.

Starhawk: Meltdown Strategies 10-9-08
Methane Bubbles Make Global Warming Worse | LiveScience
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Regenerate Resisting Progress
 
Fear
Dread
Anxiety

because, with rising fuel and food costs any plus my mortgage going up soon and not having had a pay rise for 4 years things are tight.
 
I would say this is an opportunity to grow the economy outside of the centralized stock market. Invest locally, and grow the economy locally. That is what builds economic stability, imo.
 
seattlegal said:
I would say this is an opportunity to grow the economy outside of the centralized stock market. Invest locally, and grow the economy locally. That is what builds economic stability, imo.
Click to expand...
While I watched every nickel and more that I've put into my 401k for the past two years disappear...the rest is still there, and I will continue to contribute.

Yes pathless, I agree, but I cannot change the 700 billion dollar expeniture. What I can do is create as much wealth as I have a risk tolerance for myself and then use the rewards to finance the ventures I can actually affect. I can buy inner city row houses from investors who are selling out, from banks that are sitting on the properties and provide low income housing.
 
Pathless said:
$700 billion has just been stolen from the general American population and given to elites. http://resistingprogress.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/reduce-reuse-recycle-regenerate/
Click to expand...
What if it was just a 'foot in the door" introduction to how things are going to be to assess the public's reaction?

There was no rhyme or reason for the dollar figure. One government official was actually quoted as having said they made up a "big number" that was unrelated to any actual data points.

Who performed the audits for the companies that are the beneficiaries of the 'rescue packets"?
 
Let's see. I wasn't an idiot, so I got a fixed-rate mortgage back when I got my mortgage. I have never been paid enough to worry about getting a 401k--a word to the out-of-touch elites, most Americans have the choice of "feed the kids" or "invest in a 401k", the kids win. The only thing I'm really worried about is the possibility of getting caught up in job losses.

What angers me so much is that the Dumbocrats and the Repiglicans allied to ATTACK AND ASSAULT ordinary people, committing robbery against them to help out a bunch of incompetent and selfish fatcats who DESERVE to crash and burn, taking everyone who thought to get rich quick off their schemes with them.

WHERE IS MY BAILOUT? I work hard, I pay my mortgage on time. I was smart enough to get a fixed-rate mortgage. Why are liberals punishing me and REWARDING people who were moronic and DESERVE to lose their houses for getting the wrong kind of mortgage or getting a "no-income-check" mortgage? Why are conservatives punishing me and REWARDING people who created derivatives based off these garbage mortgages.

Our society is simply a kleptocracy. Those who work are stolen from in order to create handouts for parasites.
 
We're doing alright. I don't have any money in the market, and I've known for some time that there will never be a retirement for me. I locked in a good fixed rate on our mortgage when we bought the house, and we didn't spend all of our equity on toys like a lot of people did. Our kids are going to have to get scholarships or join the military to get a college education, but again, we're working class folks with working class expectations. And our jobs are secure. My wife is a hair stylist with a dependable clientele, and I work for a small company with a very conservative business model. I'm not saying things are plush, but we're not in over our heads.

Chris
 
Oh, I forgot about the poll. I'm calm. Actually, I'm a little giddy. It's exciting to watch a disaster like this unfold knowing that it's one of those watershed moments in history. I felt the same way when Hammas won the election in the Palestine.

Chris
 
Well I have concern but personally am as yet unaffected by the crisis as my accounts are in a Credit Union which did no subprime business...

My wife's retirement funds are government bonds. We switched from speculating after the last economic downturn related to the S & L crisis.

The State of California though is in difficult waters budgetwise and will probably cut programs..Local schools and city budgets are in crisis...so that means to me we won't see much in the way of new or innovative programs very soon.

Also if all this money gets pumped into the economy I suspect there will be runaway inflation and a dollar will be worth less and less.

- Art
 
I'm sad that so many people (and "people") who can't speak for themselves are suffering from the effects of the current economy (think "Foreclosure Pets"). Heck, when there's a decision between "Rover"/"Fluffy" or paying rent/mortgage/utilities/food/medicine/etc. (especially if one has taken a pay cut or has lost his/her job), guess who gets the short end of the stick.

There is a case in Colorado (if I recall correctly) of a woman who shot her beloved canine companion (who was 15 at the time) because she couldn't get a shelter to take him in and she had just been evicted. No-kill shelters are crowded because animals are coming in but aren't leaving. Animals that normally wouldn't be euthanized in the other shelters are due to the same situations. Animals are "dumped" or killed by their human companions because the humans don't know where to turn. And the animals that are a part of the entertainment venues. . .

Then, there are the infants/children dumped at hospitals or police stations because their parents can't afford to care for them any more (and we won't discuss special needs kids!) Or the elderly who now have to pay extra for medications or whatnot who find themselves without savings or the retirement benefits they thought they had (possibly losing the homes they lived in for twenty years or more due to not being able to afford the mortgages they counted on.)

Sorry about my rant here. :eek: I'll just be in my usual spot: the Mope Corner.

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

ps: here's more information (might make some people here angry) - Suicides from financial crisis cause concern - Yahoo! News
 
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Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine said:
I'm sad that so many people (and "people") who can't speak for themselves are suffering from the effects of the current economy (think "Foreclosure Pets"). Heck, when there's a decision between "Rover"/"Fluffy" or paying rent/mortgage/utilities/food/medicine/etc. (especially if one has taken a pay cut or has lost his/her job), guess who gets the short end of the stick.

There is a case in Colorado (if I recall correctly) of a woman who shot her beloved canine companion (who was 15 at the time) because she couldn't get a shelter to take him in and she had just been evicted. No-kill shelters are crowded because animals are coming in but aren't leaving. Animals that normally wouldn't be euthanized in the other shelters are due to the same situations. Animals are "dumped" or killed by their human companions because the humans don't know where to turn. And the animals that are a part of the entertainment venues. . .

Then, there are the infants/children dumped at hospitals or police stations because their parents can't afford to care for them any more (and we won't discuss special needs kids!) Or the elderly who now have to pay extra for medications or whatnot who find themselves without savings or the retirement benefits they thought they had (possibly losing the homes they lived in for twenty years or more due to not being able to afford the mortgages they counted on.)

Sorry about my rant here. :eek: I'll just be in my usual spot: the Mope Corner.

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

ps: here's more information (might make some people here angry) - Suicides from financial crisis cause concern - Yahoo! News
Click to expand...

Words fail me. :(

s.
 
Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine said:
I'm sad that so many people (and "people") who can't speak for themselves are suffering from the effects of the current economy (think "Foreclosure Pets"). Heck, when there's a decision between "Rover"/"Fluffy" or paying rent/mortgage/utilities/food/medicine/etc. (especially if one has taken a pay cut or has lost his/her job), guess who gets the short end of the stick.

There is a case in Colorado (if I recall correctly) of a woman who shot her beloved canine companion (who was 15 at the time) because she couldn't get a shelter to take him in and she had just been evicted. No-kill shelters are crowded because animals are coming in but aren't leaving. Animals that normally wouldn't be euthanized in the other shelters are due to the same situations. Animals are "dumped" or killed by their human companions because the humans don't know where to turn. And the animals that are a part of the entertainment venues. . .

Then, there are the infants/children dumped at hospitals or police stations because their parents can't afford to care for them any more (and we won't discuss special needs kids!) Or the elderly who now have to pay extra for medications or whatnot who find themselves without savings or the retirement benefits they thought they had (possibly losing the homes they lived in for twenty years or more due to not being able to afford the mortgages they counted on.)

Sorry about my rant here. :eek: I'll just be in my usual spot: the Mope Corner.

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

ps: here's more information (might make some people here angry) - Suicides from financial crisis cause concern - Yahoo! News
Click to expand...

The sad truth of all thjis IMO is that since we are as we are, everything is as it is. These situations will cyclically arise because of this fact. We always think we can do better through education but in reality since we are as we are, everything will repeat.

The real question for me is if is possible that a society could change what it is through educational secular influences. I don't believe so. I do believe that Simone Weil through her experiences with communism came to the only realistic conclusion regarding the change of what we are:

"Humanism was not wrong in thinking that truth, beauty, liberty, and equality are of infinite value, but in thinking that man can get them for himself without grace." Simone Weil
Click to expand...

Our growing secularism furthers us even more from what she suggests which leads me to believe that our situation is hopeless and we must at some point hit bottom leading to all the horrors it will cause. I just don't see a way around it since because we are as we are, everything is as it is. No amount of platitudes will change it.
 
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