2008 turned out to be a turbulent year. It was a year marked by many new buzz words. Change and bailout made that list. But if there is one word that was overlooked that best describes 2008, I would have to pick the word low. Not a very profound word, but it seems to me, a very appropriate word. From weather temperatures falling to all-time lows around the country, to stock markets taking the lowest dive since the Great Depression, to interest rates falling to a new record low, to housing prices declining and continuing to fall, to the sitting president’s approval rating. Well, you get the picture. It seems like nothing was left untouched by low. When we celebrated the count down to 2008, little did we expect that it would be a year of this bottomless, un-ending ride downhill. We partied like it was 2008, made resolutions we knew we wouldn’t keep, and cheered in that new year with the usual innocent glee and optimism that welcomes each new year, totally unaware of what was in store for us as the year progressed. Read more »
The big three automakers went to the hill this past week to ask Congress for a bridge loan of twenty-five billion dollars. Believing that they could not be denied, these CEOs were ill-prepared to face the inquistion of lawmakers and too arrogant to be shamed by Congressional remarks and comments to show humility. LA Times reported that the CEOs of Chrysler, GM and Ford ran into a wall of skepticism from a broad cross-section of lawmakers concerned about the environment, unions and Japanese auto plants in their home states; all topics that the Big Three seemed to dismissively sidestep with a fancy dance. As I watched this story unfold over the last few days on television, I couldn’t help but wonder, what were they thinking? These are very highly-paid, highly compensated CEOs of the three major American automakers. These are men who are responsible for making dynamic decisions that affect not just their employees, but support businesses, educators, home builders, politics, environment and the list goes on. The tentacles of the auto industry are many and deep and they are embedded in just about everything that is American. Yet, these Autogods were totally clueless. In fact, I see a whole new genre of dumb jokes that has nothing to do with blondes, on the horizon. Why did they fly in on their private jets and face Congress without a new and improved game plan? Read more »
The stock market is headed South. Congress has voted to prop up corporate America at the expense of the tax payers. Home values are on the decline and continue to plummet. And now, mutual funds are warning investors not to expect much of a return on their investments. I don’t know about you, but my nest egg has turned into a scrambled egg. It’s value has dropped by over 20% in the past few weeks and continues to decrease with every breath I take. My financial adviser who oversees my retirement account says, “Don’t worry, it will turn around,” but I’m not feeling his confidence. I watch the Nightly Business Report and know that quickly slipping from view are my retirement visions of travel and pampering and enjoying a comfortable, peaceful second half of life. Hmmm! What are the options out there to salvage this? Not just for me, but for all the others too, who have conscientiously put money aside every payday in anticipation of the big R-day. Can we count on the government to give us a handout like they did corporate America? If it comes in the form of tax relief, I doubt it will be enough to replace our current losses and it probably won’t take into account that we have to pay back $700 billion first. Will I live long enough to get my money back? I just don’t see the government solving this problem soon; the market is going to have to run it’s course before it will recover and that is going to take time (years). Read more »
Is there anyone out there that really understands what is going on in the financial world? How come our current administration insisted for the past year that our economy was sound and that it would survive the sub-prime mortgage crisis and then turn around in a panic and, just last week, ask Congress for $700 billion dollars. This is a government intervention unprecedented since the Great Depression. Shouldn’t the public have had some warning that a meltdown was inevitable? Shouldn’t the taxpayers have been prepared for the fact that they would eventually be responsible for picking up the pieces instead of facing a demand (on a Monday morning, no less) that the Fed needed this money and they needed it now or else? This all seems so surreal that I can’t quite grasp the immediacy of the bailout. What does this say about the collective intelligence of corporate and political America? No wonder the American public is not behind this. It is time for Congress to support their constituents and look at not revising this bailout, but throwing it back into Wall Street’s hands - after all, isn’t that why they pay these guys the big bucks?. If our government has $700 billion dollars to just give away then let’s jump start the economy by giving it to the taxpayers.