'This is what a credit crisis looks like.' - Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 
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'This is what a credit crisis looks like.'

Posted Oct 02 2008, 03:28 PM by Kim Peterson
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The New York Times has a great blow-by-blow account of panicked reactions to the credit crisis. This isn't a stock market crisis, writes the Times' Joe Nocera:

The credit crisis has played out in places most people can’t see. It’s banks refusing to lend to other banks -- even though that is one of the most essential functions of the banking system. It’s a loss of confidence in seemingly healthy institutions like Morgan Stanley and Goldman -- both of which reported profits even as the pressure was mounting. It is panicked hedge funds pulling out cash.

It's a good read with lots of details of how everything broke down two weeks ago. And Nocera writes like he just sat through eight episodes of "ER." Your heart might race a little.

Comments

 

This is a really strange time. Credit Crunch? Why does the bank keeping sending me love letters to borrow money in all this mess? Why did they up my credit card if their is no money?  I hate them, They Love me. I'm being stalked by the bank! I have no money and I am retired. All I ever did was pay my loans on time for 30 years.

If the banks dont trust one another, why should we?

For all of you that put money into 401k's, 15 years ago unitl now, did you earn anything? I didnt, I would have better off with the money in a simple interest account. Now they keep telling you to "leave it in there" why? They used "our" money on those foolish mortgages, whats next! I'm taking all of my money out, they can find some other suckers money to play with.

If you look at a Five Year trend of the Market ( Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ COMPOSITE, S&P500 INDEX) we have a solid growth from Oct 2003 to Oct2007. AFTER OCT2007 to now the market is taking a dive. WHY?? WHAT CHANGE AT THIS POINT??? If we could answer this question, then we can begin to decide a fix! Its as if someone at a train station pull a track switch to move a train to a different track??

 Want to create more jobs in America ?  Close down Chinese WallMart. Stop buying junk that falls apart the first time you use it. And kick out those companies that are American in name only.

 Want to know who cares about the American people? Not your president and politicians. You told them 10 to 1 not to borrow a further $700 billion to bale out their buddies in Wall Street.  When Mr. Maverick and Mr. Change were given the chance to say, hey wait a minute, we need that $700 billion to get the economy jump started when I am elected, What did they tell you? Go to Hell ! And what happened in the stock market and money markets once the $700 billion written into law ?  Nothing ! Your money is gone and everything fizzled.

 And I am so happy to hear Exxon is developing a lithium battery. If they develop one, will they help to put themselves out of the oil business ? Geez, I wonder...

 It has been said that behing every great fortune is a great crime. Behind the story of the many billionaires in America, is the crime of the destruction of the American way of life and the American Middle class.  You need a revolution.

Still rooting for ya

Kevin

What goes up must com down. Look at the greed governmrnt controled by the  big greedy corporationas. Plitical parties should not be permited accept contributions from any boddie, the govenment should asaing iqual amount of of money to the political parties for theire  publicity at the time for elections to prevent compromises, so the government can have better control on the greedy corporations, insurance companies,  GREEDY  HOSPITALS, GREEDY  DOCTORS that they do not care if you have to sell your house to pay theire  astronomical bills for a simple surgery of couple hours and many times wrong performence, (they are now  worse than loyers). The greed of DRUG corpotations, Etc, Etc.

It  is time to do somthing about it  soon before it is too late. Lets get organise and lets make a big protest like the  iligal immigrants did couple years ago.

Let's leave the TV and the computer for a momente and lets go Washington DC.

Please excuse my spelling!

Enn. Car.

I think the banks will prosper just fine. They got alot of money at .02% The ones that have too much sub prime loans will go down. The others  will be fine. Wall Street is fine also, sort of....They insured the sub prime loans(not really what wall does) and now can't pay off the holder. They call the insurance swaps. The bank has one problem and wall street has another.  The Government has got $700,000,000,000 bail out money. Its not the businesses that wall street  represents its the illegal swaps some of them sold. Business is down some but companies are good.(not all financials). The Bail Out is a Bad Idea because when the American people dot not support an idea its a 90% chance of failure. Wars,Prohibition,Etc. are known to fail with the support of the people. Rum & Arrows with bail out money? My wife is a Canadian and they think were nuts.

I do hope this bailout will help improve our economy. I'm no money genius, just a casual observer who live an ordinary lifestyle. But while we are divided on this crisis in Wall Street, here are some things I see that proves the saying, "Too much of everything can and could be disastrous." So why start trimming the fat and see how much meat we can come up with.

1. First off, do we really need that many politicians to run this country?? That, and take all the office crew and aides and all the bootlickers with them, all have to paid for their services. Oh, and don't forget their annual fiscal budgets. So, there goes our taxes.

2. Too many illegal workers/immigrants. Why?? Because average American Joe or Jane Blow thinks he or she is too damn good to wash dishes or clean toilets or dig ditches. So who takes up the work?? No need to answer. Which brings to our next issue.

3. Too much outsourcing of services. Why?? Because of too much greed and cheapness between Corporate America and, yes, Joe Blow. Joe or Jane demands more than what is necessary, Big Boss said NO, we'll get some cheap labor elsewhere. Welcome to the streets and bread lines, Joe.

4. Too much entertainment, unnecessary and useless commodities and pamper services. Again, do we really need that many channels on TV?? Do we have to succumb to unhealthy and expensive habits like smoking, drinking, gambling or just plain big time spending. Why not cut-off some of that and save for the future. And please don't give that excuse you only live so long, so enjoy life to the max. What if you run out of funds and still alive?? Don't come asking for handouts because you don't deserve any. Again, moderation is the key.

5. Too much hypocrisy and dishonesty that destroy our values as responsible citizens. Let's keep that to a minimum, folks, because we are not is some silly soap opera. This is reality. If you cannot afford it, don't try to "keep up wth the Jones'es". Buy what you can pay enough, and resist that credit spending. That way, nothing will pile up in the backburner. And be honest. Stick to your limits and do something about it to expand your finances.

6. Too much foreign involvement. Do we really need to fight other nations?? Do we have to sacrifice our citizens so these aliens can drag us down with their problems?? And so the businesses that profit from these wars get fat and return nothing to our country except their own selfishness and greed?? And who's gonna aid us in case we sink in this economic quagmire we're in right now?? China? Korea? Saudi Arabia? EU?? Japan?? Who?? Hello, I don't hear anyone!!! They have their own issues, so in the end, it's just us. US.

So, in the end, we'll have to minimize the excesses of our society to bolster our economy. There is no easy way out but if we stick together and stick to moderation, maybe this crisis will gradually be resolved.

2.

WHOOPS! That second to last sentence on my last post should say" without the support of the American peolple." Oh well, I'm not a writer.

There is no systemic problem that can't be traced back to other causes, indefinitely. So we can trace our financial and economic problems all the way back to the beginning of the last century if we wanted to. It would be a useful exercise to help us avoid repeating the same mistakes, but as far as blame is concerned, we can only blame the hand on the wheel for not correcting the present no matter who did the wrong thing in the past. The need for new policies change faster than new politics arise, so the electorate has to change the party whose policies are most appropritate for the times and that's why the Democratic party will be running the new government next year in all three executive brances.

If we tinker with this broken system, yes, it will definitely enrich Financial and Congressional types.

We "the grest unwashed," are at a crossroads. Either "we" as a collective whole

decide we have "no representation" and are being taxed out of existence and take the Country back from these money grubbin', beady-eyed, freaks.  Or continue down this road to oblivion.  For exampple, where do you think USD850billion is going to come from? Are you ready for our 2nd bailout plan "to save Main Street?" HooHah.

A studied approach to this Financail "Crisis" would be:

1. Look at our Founding Fathers desires, thoughts, and wishes.

2. Go back to 1913, study why our Government began to take us down this path.

3. See what can be salvaged from the Founding Fathers Tenets , tweaking them and bring them into 21st Century reality.

4. Study the issues, problems and solutions implemented that didn't work ultimately getting us into this present day "crisis."

5. Elaborate a Five Year Plan that gets us away from our current situation to our next level...a Ten Year Plan.

Some ideas. Continuing the way we're going, knee jerk reaction to knee jerk reaction will destroy our Country.

Goin' to take some huge "cojones" to steer this huge ship around, but we have to start with a Plan Of Action. Revolution isn't the answer, a citizen revolt is an idea...piecemeal, but no long term solution. Hunker down, another good idea, has short term results, too.

Only way to solve this mess is to sit down and start with a TAXPAYER CONVENTION. Roberts Rule of Order, please.

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