Anybody following the global financial meltdown?

[kartshan]

All doomsday predictions due to the LHC apart, the real doom is happening in Wall St. Lehman Bros. is done for, Merill Lynch is sold and AIG is on the brink. None of the hotshot bankers on Wall St. know what to do next. If things go into free fall this could be greater than the Great Depression. In this globalized economy this situation would take down the whole world

[tricker]

*fashions tin foil hat*

yup.. i'm ready

[Sierra Vulcan]

The sky is falling...The sky is falling...............................

[tai42]

I haven't been following it, but my 403(b) has.

[Jake '53]

What, exactly do "Investment Banks" do?

[Musgofasa]

Not to be chicken little but yeah, it scares the **** out of me really. For all my efforts to plan ahead, most everything I have is getting worth less and less including my house. With everything else going on, that doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy right now.

Makes it hard to be aggressive with career moves and such ya know?

But as always, I will keep doing what I do and the world will do as it does. I doubt my measly 401k will help or hurt anyone in the grand scheme ya know?

Take care,
Robert

[aKorn]

so where did all the $$$ and profits go? Sure seems someone made out. Anyone remember the S&L crisis?

[NCDave]

it's only a problem for the rich. they'll have to give up their silver spoons! my retirement account has had the crap beat out of it already, so a little more will make no difference. Can you tell I'm jaded about all of it? Heck...they'll just figure out it's an excuse to raise gas prices even thought there is NO impact!

[coppertales]

the market and such. My 401k has taken a beating. I was supposed to retire last March but with the 401k hit, I am still working. chris3

[ALStensby]

it's only a problem for the rich. they'll have to give up their silver spoons! my retirement account has had the crap beat out of it already, so a little more will make no difference. Can you tell I'm jaded about all of it? Heck...they'll just figure out it's an excuse to raise gas prices even thought there is NO impact!

Good point. I'm not saying there is, but I will admit I'm interested to see what, if any fall out there will be in regards to the fuel price issue after W leaves office. There may be a tie, there may not be...but the intrigue is there for me. After all, peanuts didn't jump during Carter's admin.

[Guitarosaur]

My last employer robbed me of $90k I had in my retirement account. I participated in the class action suit, and just got the settlement last month: $127.94.

It pi$$es me off that four fat pompous pr!cks got away with breaking us ALL down and breech-loading us like 24000 cheap shotguns, but they got away with it. They "urged" us to convert our retirement funds to company stock with a great prospectus and reform plan, then announced the sale of the company AFTER they had dumped their shares. Stock went from $65 a share to 18 cents overnight.

I know a lot of people lost a lot more money than I did, and they all got the same buck and a quarter back. Why the hell do the big wigs keep getting away with this crap?

I'm definitely NOT for bigger, more invasive government. But I'd definitely support a government that protected the little guys from financial victimization.

p.s.: no, I won't say which company it was, because sure as I did, I'd get slapped with a defamation suit and lose ANOTHER 90 grand.

[aKorn]

I support capital punishment for white-collar crimes. Or as Woody said it...

“As through this world I’ve wandered, I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a gun; And some with a fountain pen.

[angel2cdwings]

It is hard to do anything about it when your hands are tied. We may have the freedom to vote the most appropriate person in office, we can plan ahead to carry us through retirement... what happens? Somewhere along the line it seems that decisions being made are not in our best intrest. I understand that there are risks involved in investing but COME ON! I just stopped investing after 2004 when things started to fall. I guess I have lost faith in humanity when it comes to business.

[sl3slinger]

My last employer robbed me of $90k I had in my retirement account. I participated in the class action suit, and just got the settlement last month: $127.94.

It pi$$es me off that four fat pompous pr!cks got away with breaking us ALL down and breech-loading us like 24000 cheap shotguns, but they got away with it. They "urged" us to convert our retirement funds to company stock with a great prospectus and reform plan, then announced the sale of the company AFTER they had dumped their shares. Stock went from $65 a share to 18 cents overnight.

I know a lot of people lost a lot more money than I did, and they all got the same buck and a quarter back. Why the hell do the big wigs keep getting away with this crap?

I'm definitely NOT for bigger, more invasive government. But I'd definitely support a government that protected the little guys from financial victiization.

p.s.: no, I won't say which company it was, because sure as I did, I'd get slapped with a defamation suit and lose ANOTHER 90 grand.

good post!i keep hearing we dont need the government in business, but until business gets some ethics we gotta do something

[cmptrmn.1]

What has happened is Greed. And, greed has been the downfall of many civilizations. I especially like the "Let them eat cake" line before the beheading. Don't think we will get to that point, but, things could get ugly.

[sl3slinger]

I support capital punishment for white-collar crimes. Or as Woody said it...

“As through this world I’ve wandered, I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a gun; And some with a fountain pen.

+1, i have more respect for the ones who will rob ya face to face!

[Musgofasa]

I worked for myself for 10 years and learned that I could make my own investments go so much further than any employer or 401K program. Then after a decade, I bought land and got ready to sell the business and retire. As it turns out, family makes the worst business partner in the world. My dad bankrupted the shop which should have been worth about $7M at the time. In less than 3 years I went from the top of the world (relatively speaking) to bankruptcy. Now I can't even get a decent job becuase of a credit history that was ruined by medical bills and greed that were beyond my control.

Yeah, I want to work for myself again so I don't have to worry about corporate red tape and big wig people screwing the little guys. One thing is for sure, I won't be having any partners this time unless everything is in legal, written form first. Until that time comes though, yeah, I am all for a government looking out for the people who are making the money for all the other people.

[aKorn]

Trillion here and a Trillion there, this stuff starts to add up.

The Mess On Wall Street: Four Trillion Dollars Down The Drain

The collapse of so many major financial institutions in the past year, and over the past few days especially, is hard to fathom in its enormity. Sometimes you need a good visual to put things in perspective. The New York Times has an interactive graphic up on its site that pretty much says it all. It shows that $4 trillion has been wiped off the total market capitalization of the U.S. stock market since last October. Of that, nearly $1 trillion is from the decline in the financial sector alone.

Each box in the graphic is proportional to the size of the market capitalization of the biggest financial firms then and now. As you mouse over the squares, you can see how much each value each company lost between October 9, 2007 and September 12, 2008. Here are some of the individual losses by market cap:

Citigroup: $236.7 billion to $97.8 billion.
Bank of America: $236.5 billion to $150.2 billion.
AIG: $179.8 billion to $32.3 billion
Goldman Sachs: $97.7 billion to $61.3 billion
American Express: $74.8 billion to $45 billion.
Morgan Stanley: $73.1 billion to $41.1 billion.
Fannie Mae: $64.8 billion to $700 million.
Merrill Lynch: $63.9 billion to $24.2 billion
Freddie Mac: $41.5 billion to $300 million.
Lehman Brothers: $34.4 billion to $2.5 billion.
Washington Mutual: $31.1 billion to $2.9 billion

[evmo]

Washington Mutual: $31.1 billion to $2.9 billion

EEEEKKK!

Looks like it may be time to find a new bank...

[LuckyArmpit]

Seems as though the govt. regulates the wrong things. They should have been regulating these mortgage brokers long ago. People with 30000 a year incomes buying 500,000 dollar houses. And the broker made 5 grand on the deal. And thats only one closing. I knew guys closing 10 to 20 houses a month. Hmmmm....new beemer and HD sitting in the driveway.
And somebody should be watching the oil companies Exxon/Mobil and the rest.
They made record profit last quarter.
Even goes down to state level. Look at PA, tried to toll of I-80. Feds said no.
Apparently PA didn't grease someone at the federal level enough. Of course, PA does have the new anti smoking bill.

Lucky...