Thread: Savings in Wall Street and Dow 9,000

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

I'm listening to the news and the pundits are all decrying how so many people have lost their savings that were invested in stocks.

It occurred to me that there was the problem.

Since when, in America, did the stock market become a place for a family's savings?

I thought that Wall Street and the Stock Market was a place for speculation and investment, not savings.

It used to be that in America many common citizens felt the stock market was a form of gambling.

Now the illusion is unveiled and that illusion is that American citizens should ever park their money in the stock market and let it ride. The average citizen does not have the access to information needed or the time needed to monitor the markets closely to play this game.

If Americans actually had savings in bank accounts, the banking failures would be less likely and economic impact from market corrections would have a less severe impact on our total economy.

The scam going on in this country is so deep that there should have been calls from DC politicians over the last several years encouraging Americans to SAVE! SAVE! SAVE!

I never heard that call from a so called leader in DC. Anyone else hear it? Did I miss it?

W

If you have a 401K, you've lost some savings. I think that is what they are speaking of.

Originally Posted by Populist

The $700B bailout scam was supposed to stabilize the stock market. In fact, it's done the exact opposite. Every day since the bailout passed, the market has plunged -- big-time.

The bailout was primarily aimed at easing the credit market not the stock market. By injecting money into the banks' reserves (thus more cash available to be lent out) small business owners would have the needed credit to continue paying their employees or purchasing capital immediately to grow their business.

Even the most conservative investors with an IRA have money invested in the stock market.

Originally Posted by CoolHead

Originally Posted by Populist

The $700B bailout scam was supposed to stabilize the stock market. In fact, it's done the exact opposite. Every day since the bailout passed, the market has plunged -- big-time.

The bailout was primarily aimed at easing the credit market not the stock market. By injecting money into the banks' reserves (thus more cash available to be lent out) small business owners would have the needed credit to continue paying their employees or purchasing capital immediately to grow their business.

Yes i'm well aware of the credit aspect which has been repeated ad nauseum. But one of the talking points to sell this to middle America was that this would stabilize the stock market, 401Ks etc.

Any smart saver knows to diversify. Never put everything in one basket. Can't imagine people depending upon only their stock through their company for retirement.

We have an adviser and are supposed to be well diversified. Mutual funds,
cash, emerging markets, precious metals and a few bonds which should
work but with the rest of the world going down the tubes, no one is safe.
There is no safe haven, but the backyard that is!!!!

After watching and listening to all the economist, I closed my 401K. I am glad I did, since if I hadn't I would have lost another 10%. My eggs were not in one basket, we have a large pension, no bills and our house is paid for. This unfortunately puts us in a high tax bracket with no write offs the government will reap the benefits. I know alot of baby boomers are in the same position as myself, and I wonder at times if this wasn't a way of shaking loose some of that tax deferred money that we were setting on.

All this bailout did was give the CEO's their golden parachutes. AIG got their bailout money and had a big soiree at some resort at the tune of almost 1/2 a million dollars. We are being played for fools again.

The only good thing about this crisis is that oil is dropping dramatically. Maybe soon gas will be where it should be. I hope all those big oil tycoons go bankrupt.

When are we going to stop paying taxes to this corrupt government??

Originally Posted by Populist

Originally Posted by CoolHead

Originally Posted by Populist

The $700B bailout scam was supposed to stabilize the stock market. In fact, it's done the exact opposite. Every day since the bailout passed, the market has plunged -- big-time.

The bailout was primarily aimed at easing the credit market not the stock market. By injecting money into the banks' reserves (thus more cash available to be lent out) small business owners would have the needed credit to continue paying their employees or purchasing capital immediately to grow their business.

Yes i'm well aware of the credit aspect which has been repeated ad nauseum. But one of the talking points to sell this to middle America was that this would stabilize the stock market, 401Ks etc.

I guess it just did not resonate with investors. Government can't really do anything to control the way investors feel. If investors would just turn of their television sets or stop reading the news, the market would not be declining so much.

Anyways, at least this gives people like me who have no investments what so ever a chance to get in cheap and help the market get back up.