I'm only 33, but I'm not sure if my retirement investments can take much more hope and change.
Posted by Eric Earling at February 27, 2009 07:32 AM | Email ThisThe stock market is the great creator of wealth in our country, the tool that countless lower or middle income people use to get beyond slaving away for a living to a life of wealth. The democrats are slaughtering the goose.
Posted by: Jonathan Gardner on February 27, 2009 08:18 AM''At 8:30 a.m. ET, the government announced that GDP shrank by a revised annual rate of 6.2%'' (during last full quarter ending December 2008).
... which was MUCH worse than expected only a short time ago.
Saw some projections that GDP could also shrink by 5% or more for the 1st quarter of CY 2009.
If that happens unemployment will probably go above 10 percent; and the ''recovery'' the Obama Administration is apparently counting on to start in 2009 may be delayed at least until well into 2010.
Big trouble in River City..... and all I can say is glad I was and am mostly in cash and cash equivalents; and don't have a mortgage.
Posted by: Methow Ken on February 27, 2009 08:34 AMThe seed for the current financial meltdown was the Government push (insistance)for home ownership by low income and minority non-qualified borrowers. Interest rates were kept artificially low by the Fed. Guarantees and purchases of sub-prime mortgages were the norm.
Naturally financial institutions jumped at the easy money. Loans were resold, repackaged, insured, and leveraged beyond any common sense, dependant on government guarantees and the continued inflation of housing.
Add into that an election year with the Appointed One needing a talked-down economy and the resulting public fear in order to win election. The MSM performed brilliantly. Now we have all the power in one party, free to pass all things they ever wanted or dreamed of.
But the genie is out of the bottle and cannot be put back into the bottle. No snap of the finger can right the beaten down economy, and the buckets of "stimulus" money are selectively targeted more for retention of power than for economic recovery.
We're in for a long cold multi year winter.
Posted by: Dick on February 27, 2009 08:40 AMHow did this guy see the economic crash coming in 2002, and the Bush Administration with all it's vast intellect didn't? I'm guessing they we're too busy looking the other way or not bothering to look at all.
Three names--Alan Greenspan, Barney Frank, and Chris Dodd...
Posted by: Bill H on February 27, 2009 11:53 AMCare to give me more denial and typical GOP bulls**t?
Of course, I've expected for about fifteen years that I'm not going to get to retire until I'm about 75, if then.
(And at this point, I hardly care whose "fault" it is -- I just want the people in power to stop making it worse.)
Posted by: Bryan Lovely on February 27, 2009 02:08 PMI'm 50 and I've always been a big saver for retirement. All of the money I had accumulated in stocks up until the day Bush took office was worth, on average, 37% less when he finally left. Every dime that I invested during his eight years in office is now worth less -- some of those dimes are only worth a nickel.
Total bummer...
I'm just thankful we managed to stop Bush's inane plan to move our Social Security funds into private stock accounts.
Posted by: scottd on February 27, 2009 04:18 PMYeah, Dingo. I am. I have posted twice as to what the cause of the economic meltdown is. I have also challenged those on the left to give SPECIFICS as to why they think it was the fault of Bush, or Republicans or Reagan or Supply Side Economics. No one has done so. So yeah, put up or shut up. I've had enough of generalities like your pathetic entries.
Here is mine at Post #78 from February 6, 2009.
Who's Responsible for the Economic Debacle