Thread: Stock market meltdown . . . it's a bloodbath

Stock market meltdown . . . it's a bloodbath

Mike Whitney
Online Journal
Monday Aug 6, 2007

On Friday the Dow Jones took a 280-point nosedive on fears that that losses in the subprime market will spill over into the broader economy and cut into GDP.

Ever since the two Bear Sterns' hedge funds folded a couple weeks ago, the stock market has been writhing like a drug-addict in a detox cell. Friday's sell-off added to last week’s plunge that wiped out $2.1 trillion in value from global equity markets. New York investment guru Jim Rogers said that the real market is “one of the biggest bubbles we’ve ever had in creditâ€

Is it time to take our money out of the banks?

Does anyone know if SS simply has to be direct deposited?

SS can be mailed.

Dixie

Scary, but makes me thankful for once that we can't afford to have much money in a bank. We are used to dealing in cash, as most really low income folks are, so I imagine this will hit the middle class the hardest (as always!). I thought at first maybe the rich and affluent would be hit the hardest because they have the most, but then I realized the majority of their money probably isn't in banks anyway.

Certainly supports Ron Paul's desire to do away with the Federal Reserve and return to the gold standard.

I don't know if it(SS) HAS to but from what my parents said they push it....one reason is they paid my parents theirs and according to when they died....they were able to go back in and take what they felt was "overpayment", back out immediatly instead of me having to reimburse them. And they did.....but they atleast sent a letter saying they did. More than what alot of places do once you give them the power of direct deposit.

I don't know what they expect people to do anymore. It's scarey. All I know is I owe nobody nothing. Every single thing I have is fully paid for and it's a struggle to just keep up with that. Taxes, insurance, repairs, replacements....etc. and simply everyday living. It just seems there's too many that aren't satisfied with that....they want to find a way to take what you already bought and paid for.

Originally Posted by Dixie

SS can be mailed.

Dixie

I think I will check on that - although when we started it just last year, we were not given choice. It was presented as 'you check will be direct deposited - what bank do you use?'

Owe no Man anything.

The borrower is slave to the lender.

think I will check on that - although when we started it just last year, we were not given choice. It was presented as 'you check will be direct deposited - what bank do you use?'

That's what my parents said it was like.....they wanted to get the check but then they told them the problems with weather, checks getting lost in the mail....what happens if you're sick and all that......which are valid points....so they went along. Then when they started failing and were having trouble remembering dates etc.....they did the bill payment that way too. Which is good in a way......but it also has too many hands tapping into the till and that I don't like.

Imblest.....know how you feel. That's what my husband jokes about. What goes up must come down and from where we are it's not too far to fall.

This morning on the radio they were talking about some guy in some state about what to tax for more revenue. He suggested restaurant food but he wanted fast food exempt because he didn't want to tax the poor mom who was taking her kids to McDonalds for dinner. They were going on and on about it's not cheaper to eat out etc. etc. etc. It's not when you have the money to shop like that. Heck ya it's cheaper in the long run to buy the big bundle of toliet paper instead of a single roll......but there are alot of people out there who aren't going week by week. Some don't get paid every week....it's every other week. And more and more are going day by day. I've done that. Pool money and gee...need to eat and we need toliet paper and a gallon of milk. OK...bump it down to a quart and a single roll and there's Mc'Donalds and the kids have lunch money and whoopie.....made it another day. Yes....it is more frugel to spend it differently....but you have to have money FIRST to get that ball rolling. When there's NO money and nothing to "cut back" on....the choices aren't financially optimal. Lord knows I've washed my hair with dish soap and sometimes laundry soap.....to me it's a luxery to actually have Sauve shampoo and creme rinse. To buy a BUNDLE of toliet paper instead of a roll here and there. Geeze....to spend 400 bucks on a hair cut is unthinkable to me. 1,000 for a purse? I mean the radio host said the most she spent on a purse was 100.00 bucks! Heck fire....I could NEVER spend that much on a purse. I splurged 1 time at 25 and you would have thought I committed a crime. It was my 50th birthday. I figured I deserved something for making it that far. No dinner, no party, ...by god....I got that purse I had my eye on for MONTHS. Red too boot. Saved every bit for it too. I know for many....they don't realize there are alot who do live like that. And I know there are more who try and get by with worse.

Crazybird There is no way I would spend even $100 on a purse. Heck, I've never spent $25 - but then I am just cheap. That's what I tell my husband, "I'm a cheap date."

Now a book - well, I have splurged in a bookstore. Once my daughter and I were in a bookstore and there was one I wanted bad. It cost about $25 - and I decided to just 'do it'. Actually, while standing in line, I began to shake.

My daughter put her hand on my arm and said, "Calm down, Mother, I'll walk you through it."