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Holy cow... I am going to have to tune to CNBC. This is kind a spooky day for investors and those with 401K and the like.
Think it might be like black Monday of October of 87. I doubt it will be like the market crash of 29. However a 150 year old company filing for bankruptcy can't help any. I wonder under what chapter file under?
It seems that the US will be left with three major universal banks- Citi, BoA, JPMorgan - and myriad boutique-type brokerages and private equity companies, not unlike Europe.
Maybe the next step will be mergers between some US and European giants.
Is this a good or bad thing short term? Long term I'm thinking they'll hit the consumer very hard with interest rate hikes.
Not being too harsh on you Wall Street watcher types, but who gives a rat's @ss about the stock market? Only two sets of folks that I really follow that do . . . the sleaze balls that sell the otherwise worthless paper and the chumps who buy it. Do not be either of those and it makes little real world difference.
It was either going to severely reduced value now, or in the not so far future when the boomers who have been dumping their retirement money into the silly mess try to take some out.
Well, I think it matters a lot considering there are a lot of people retiring now and soon. For those people, they just watched their retirement savings take a huge wallop. Now for those who didn't save they are going to get bailouts at the expense of those who did save, basically other people's retirement savings is going to take a second hit. For those retiring now or within the next 2-3 years, its going to be a bad time... I might work instead of retire to make ends meet for the next several years... this has a domino effect because there are tons of people unemployed already, with those that "would" be retiring not retiring, there would be too few jobs out there. With less jobs, there would be less spending and the economy takes a dive. The only good thing is that products (that have been overpriced for decades due to the bustling economy) will be cheaper but it will also cost more job losses until the products are no longer cost-effective. I do see a way out of this mess but it requires someone with a good grasp of what to do... however seeing the two candidates we have... this country is heading towards a possible depression... I will blame it on whoever takes office because this CAN be prevented but none of them have the gall to do it.. just a lot of finger pointing and rhetoric.. Obama will blame the GOP (I wish he would stop with the partisan politics) and McCain will blame the overspending Congress...
Not being too harsh on you Wall Street watcher types, but who gives a rat's @ss about the stock market? Only two sets of folks that I really follow that do . . . the sleaze balls that sell the otherwise worthless paper and the chumps who buy it. Do not be either of those and it makes little real world difference.
I largely got out of stocks over a year ago, but suggesting someone is a "chump" for buying a stock is a bit odd. After all stock that pays a good dividend can be a rather nice asset. Regardless, the equity markets give you a window into how the market is behaving to the recent events. A major crash in the equity markets will effect most people whether they own stocks or not.
Not being too harsh on you Wall Street watcher types, but who gives a rat's @ss about the stock market? Only two sets of folks that I really follow that do . . . the sleaze balls that sell the otherwise worthless paper and the chumps who buy it. Do not be either of those and it makes little real world difference.
The bankruptcy of Lehman and the impending collapse of other banks means that available credit for businesses will be restricted. These banks enable entrepreneurs to borrow capital to start businesses (in addition to assisting in IPOs so businesses can access the equities market). Without capital, business formation will decrease, and therefore job creation will decrease. This leads to higher unemployment. Higher unemployment means consumer spending will decline. Since consumer spending makes up 70% of GDP, that means GDP will contract, which means we will have a recession or even depression. So even if you don't own Lehman stock, you will be impacted by its demise.
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