Banks...............

[chefmike]

Not to worry, John McSame assured us today that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong..."

[qeuqheeg222]

good post brklynboy..the idea of short selling is really a mystery to me in how this is alloed and regulated..yet i also think capital gains should be taxed at a much higher rate than they are-too many rich fucks coming up with new schemes to move the penny from under one shell to the other is not the same as a honest days work at walmart...

[dafame]

I think it means nothing. Idiots invested in things they shouldn't have.

What percentage of our economy do those two companies amount to? 0.01%? I know MSNBC and CNNFN will dramatize it to the bitter end, but in the end, these morons have to live with their own decisions, and they amount to such a small part of our country, it doesn't matter (other than the emotional bleed-over, which is real).

It's like those people who lost their shirt with the dot.com crash. It's not a person with an ounce of wisdom couldn't see it coming and that it was foolish, in the first place. They dug their own grave.

Wow. It doesn't matter? What economics class did you take. You don't understand the "trickle down effect" do you? Do you realize how many people lost their jobs as a result of this? Do you not see how many people are panicking and removing their money from banks that are barely hanging on themselves? Do you realize what this says about the value of the U.S. dollar in the world economy and how our leverage has yet again been weakened with the word that our economic infrastructure is failing? Do you think that it will end with Lehman Bros.? You probably do don't you?

[dafame]

Not to worry, John McSame assured us today that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong..."

He restated himself. What he actually meant by "fundamentals" was the American people. Which means that in my previous post where I asked the question "do you realize how many people lost their jobs as a result of this", what I should have said is do you realize how many "fundamentals of the economy" lost their jobs? If you people think this man is going to have a clue of what to do about our economic problems or any other problems other than who we should attack next then you're delusional.

[doradora]

rip Lehman Bros and Merrill Lynch.

AIG will be same thing?

[flabbybody]

FDIC is the government agency that is supposed to guarantee your account up to $100,000 in the evnent that your bank fails and can't give you your money back
Fact is, if banks fail quickly and in large numbers, it will take FDIC years to honor claims. So it may take 3 or more years before you're actually made whole again. And FDIC does not make good on any accrued interest on a CD. After the long wait, you'll get back principle only

Not looking to scare anyone. Just pointing out that the current Wall Street disease can affect everyone, even people who don't own any stocks

[Oli]

Great responses everyone.

-bklynboy, really informative for those who aren't into this. You need shorts to punish the stupid. Don't disagree about Phil Gramm. Predatory lending relies on the receiver accepting the loan.

-defame, as soon as you mention 'trickle down', you lose. It has not and will never work.

-BURBS, the difference between Bear and Lehman was no one thought Bear would go under, and to avoid the panic the government and Morgan stepped up. People have seen this coming for Lehman for the past 6 months, and did nothing, assuming the Feds would give them the same backing as Bear. Big mistake.

Merrill did a good job recognizing their weakness and finding protection and liquidity in BOA.

[hwbs]

i just got an email from ing...it is very pointless....dont know if this is a warning that they are going belly up, lmfao....now remember guys keep contributing to your 401k as all u will see is red for some time , lmao..

[poncho316]

It's simple the rich get richer ....

[poncho316]

Sub-prime loans have been around for decades and have worked successfully when the economy was strong and the programs made sense. What went wrong with whole financial mess we are in is when Wall Street and the top five banks took advantage of the rate cuts after 9/11 and created all these crazy loan programs,(580-620 credit scores, stated – stated to a 100%) …..come on. Anyone with half a brain could have seen what was going to happen…Their investors made trillions of dollars and they are the one buying everything up at pennies on the dollar.