The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged again today, down below 10,000 for the first time since 2004. Currently it's down 728 points as of this writing, a mammoth plunge downward despite the $700 billion rescue package passed by Congress on Friday. So what does this mean? It doesn't look good right now and it's becoming downright scary out there in the financial markets. Obviously, Wall Street isn't impressed with the rescue money and people are getting increasingly skittish about their investments, so today has been marked by massive sell-offs on Wall Street as people divest themselves of shaky stocks and investments. I can't remember a time when things seemed shakier on Wall Street than the past few weeks, as big massive investment banks have begun to collapse under the weight of all of the bad mortgage loans that they financed over the past few years. We can thank all of the years and years of deregulation for all of this mess. I wonder what that's going to do for the upcoming Presidential election? I hope that it will work in favor of the Democrats, who want to restore regulation to the markets and to banking that will set things to rights. Sure, it's probably going to take years to clean up the mess made by the Bush administration and it probably won't happen in a first term, but my hope is that if Obama wins, that he will put in place measures to staunch the bleeding on Wall Street and start turning things around little by little. Until then, though, it's getting downright ugly out there.
The only plus in all of this is that oil has dropped below $100 a barrel for the first time in a long time and this morning as I drove to work, it was even trading below $90 a barrel. I've seen gas as low as $3.06 a gallon lately, meaning that gas prices have receded almost a dollar a gallon since summer, a big relief to those of us who commute long distances. If gas had continued its upward swing past $4 a gallon as it was this summer, I was going to quit driving altogether and start taking buses as many places as possible. I probably still ought to, but it's nice to be able to run errands after work en route to home instead of having to go out later in the evening to do it when I am more likely to be tired and not wanting to leave my apartment. Plus I always have places that I have to go in the evenings and when I am coming home from them, I just want to get home and take a load off and relax instead of having to drive around and do tons of errands. So this entire financial crisis has at least had one silver lining in that it's taken a load of strain off of my finances by making it cheaper for me to buy gas. I'm still not driving as much as I once did just to do my part toward conservation, but still.....it's a relief to see gas prices coming down from their summer time high. I just hope that natural gas prices will recede as well, because I find it hard to believe that heating my tiny apartment costs so much per month when I turn back my thermostat to 58º when I am gone and only turn it up to 68º when I am at home, when I used to keep it at 70º before heat became such an expensive commodity. So for now, the financial crisis continues and it remains to be seen what affect it's going to have on the overall economy, but it can't be good. I suspect that we're in for a long, deep and painful recession regardless of which way the financial winds blow. Remember that, folks, when you go to the polls in November. Remember who brought you bank deregulation and subprime mortgages and what that has done to your 401(K) and annuity retirement accounts. And remember who intends to continue deregulation as it now stands and vote accordingly.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged again today, down below 10,000 for the first time since 2004. Currently it's down 728 points as of this writing, a mammoth plunge downward despite the $700 billion rescue package passed by Congress on Friday. So what does this mean? It doesn't look good right now and it's becoming downright scary out there in the financial markets. Obviously, Wall Street isn't impressed with the rescue money and people are getting increasingly skittish about their investments, so today has been marked by massive sell-offs on Wall Street as people divest themselves of shaky stocks and investments. I can't remember a time when things seemed shakier on Wall Street than the past few weeks, as big massive investment banks have begun to collapse under the weight of all of the bad mortgage loans that they financed over the past few years. We can thank all of the years and years of deregulation for all of this mess. I wonder what that's going to do for the upcoming Presidential election? I hope that it will work in favor of the Democrats, who want to restore regulation to the markets and to banking that will set things to rights. Sure, it's probably going to take years to clean up the mess made by the Bush administration and it probably won't happen in a first term, but my hope is that if Obama wins, that he will put in place measures to staunch the bleeding on Wall Street and start turning things around little by little. Until then, though, it's getting downright ugly out there.
The only plus in all of this is that oil has dropped below $100 a barrel for the first time in a long time and this morning as I drove to work, it was even trading below $90 a barrel. I've seen gas as low as $3.06 a gallon lately, meaning that gas prices have receded almost a dollar a gallon since summer, a big relief to those of us who commute long distances. If gas had continued its upward swing past $4 a gallon as it was this summer, I was going to quit driving altogether and start taking buses as many places as possible. I probably still ought to, but it's nice to be able to run errands after work en route to home instead of having to go out later in the evening to do it when I am more likely to be tired and not wanting to leave my apartment. Plus I always have places that I have to go in the evenings and when I am coming home from them, I just want to get home and take a load off and relax instead of having to drive around and do tons of errands. So this entire financial crisis has at least had one silver lining in that it's taken a load of strain off of my finances by making it cheaper for me to buy gas. I'm still not driving as much as I once did just to do my part toward conservation, but still.....it's a relief to see gas prices coming down from their summer time high. I just hope that natural gas prices will recede as well, because I find it hard to believe that heating my tiny apartment costs so much per month when I turn back my thermostat to 58º when I am gone and only turn it up to 68º when I am at home, when I used to keep it at 70º before heat became such an expensive commodity. So for now, the financial crisis continues and it remains to be seen what affect it's going to have on the overall economy, but it can't be good. I suspect that we're in for a long, deep and painful recession regardless of which way the financial winds blow. Remember that, folks, when you go to the polls in November. Remember who brought you bank deregulation and subprime mortgages and what that has done to your 401(K) and annuity retirement accounts. And remember who intends to continue deregulation as it now stands and vote accordingly.
1 comment:
lemming headquarters has been quite nippy of late, but I'm putting off turning on the furnace for as long as possible...
I keep trying to think positive about the election, but after hearing someone interviewed on NPR this morning sayings he can't vote for Obama becaiuse he will put "his race" first - I weep.
Not sure where "Place in the Hills" has gone, but I have his e-mail address - I'll drop a line and let you know what I hear.
Post a Comment