Dow Closes Down 679 Points

Since I know What is reading this I will say this. What made some very prescient predictions about the collapse of the stock market and the banking system. He did so with a bizarre and unexplained hatred towards many people who had nothing to do with the situation (myself included). So for me there is no congratulations to the What. If he did make money on it then at least there was a rationale for all the shitty things he said about people here. If he didn’t make any money on it I can’t conceive of what his motivations could be. IT is a bit like the village idiot being right as someone mentioned above. Because he was unable to separate the predictive aspects from the hateful rhetoric and general anti-social behavior for me his word means nothing.

My life has never revolved around money or even the value of real estate. This whole world has been a new one for me (since the spring when we really began to try to buy a house). I have been surprised and entertained by the kinds of spats, arguments and other sorts of melees that I have seen on here. I have also been really bummed out by the ways that some people can’t see past their own narrow agendas. I have appreciated the excuse to blog about stuff other than politics which is where I usually blog (mydd). But if you can’t carry on some kind of rational, two sided dialogue you are not worth my time. I find the What interesting in a train wreck sort of way but in the end what the fuck does he add to this site but a lot of bitterness and paranoia.

Inigo,

I work in Market Reg., a chronically underfunded corner of the financial world that never saw a dime of the CDO money, so hang your blame elsewhere.

And two things: 1)I said “overpriced real estate”; and 2) your argument that our nation was always based on real estate and consumerism is patently false.

We were once and industrial and agricultural superpower that supported a highly educated and mobile middle class. We are now an aristocratic Banana Republic that prints money to try and solve its budgetary problems. China is our Shylock. We have traded on our creditworthiness for almost two generations, but now the emperor is revealed as having no clothes.

The party is over.

I happened to go shopping tonight in SoHo (needed a sweater) and was amazed at how the stores were just buzzing. Clearly, there are many people (perhaps myself in included) who are in a certain state of denial. Then again, maybe small pleasures, like a $50 wool sweater, are comforting at times like these. How the hell are the credit card companies doing by the way? Now THAT would bring the economy to a grinding halt, if credit card companies froze people’s ability to purchase. While I agree with those who say we lost our way by living beyond our means, getting too greedy/lazy/fat/consumerist, I certainly don’t want a total meltdown. Let’s hope the panic subsides and while this is probably the end of capitalism as we’ve known it, maybe a somewhat less extreme system can be ushered in as a replacement, that allows for competition and merit, but does not create the kind of Gilded Age excesses of the last few decades.

Our nation was always based on real estate and consumer crap so I don’t know what the hell you are talking about. This meltdown is due to banks and other financial institutions forgetting that there is a portion of the population that is credit worthy and a portion that isn’t.
Seems pretty basic but I guess with an expensive enough education you can forget that sort of common sense.
The fault is with you my friend. The so-called financial professionals. Don’t blame the rest of us, especially those of us who bought a home we could afford, who pay our bills, and who contribute every week to our 401K’s. We are the big losers in all this. Will the government restore my retirement savings while they are bailing out some irresponsible dingbat who makes 50 thou a year and bought a million dollar house?