The market

[Ddrak]

The stock market is still batshit insane. It's more volatile than I'd ever believed it could be - hell it practically dropped 10% this morning then gained it back in 30 minutes. That's fucking nuts, and makes me believe it's still got some declining to do before it can stabilize and maybe even start the climb back out. I'm starting to think it could drop below 7000 before any sort of serious turnaround, but couldn't imagine it going as low as 5000.

Credit markets appear to still be relatively frozen despite the coordinated efforts from central banks. Not sure how much else they can really do. The fact that the administration is talking about a partial nationalization of banks is actually pretty damn scary.

One thing that has confused me is the relative strength of the US dollar. I would have expected a decline, but maybe I'm just expecting currency markets to react more quickly? The fall in the Aussie dollar has been pretty spectacular though - dropping from 98c to 66c (against the greenback) is a pretty interesting feat, but good for our economy on the whole I guess.

I think we're heading into a global depression.

Dd

[Harlowe]

It feels surreal how crazy the market is. Embar wasn't kidding when he said we are in a historical moment in our lifetime.

[Lurker]

Credit markets appear to still be relatively frozen despite the coordinated efforts from central banks. Not sure how much else they can really do. The fact that the administration is talking about a partial nationalization of banks is actually pretty damn scary.

Most economists think this is the best way to get money back into the system. It's similar to what Warren Buffett has been doing and it provides the best guarantee for protecting the American taxpayer. Much prefered to just buying up bad assets.

[Ddrak]

Most economists think this is the best way to get money back into the system. It's similar to what Warren Buffett has been doing and it provides the best guarantee for protecting the American taxpayer. Much prefered to just buying up bad assets.

I'm not disagreeing that it might be necessary (and even then it might not work, or have even worse side effects). I'm just saying it's a frightening indication of just how bad things are when a neoconservatve and very adamantly free-market government in the USA, which is the world champion of free markets, is talking about buying up the very core of that free market to stem their failure.

Dd

[Lurker]

I don't find that frightening. Bush is so weak politically that he can't push ideology over good policy as he's done all through his presidency. Congress got language in the bill that allowed the Treasury Secretary to take this better path of direct investment, and the Treasury Secretary is smart enough to take that path. Sure, it might not work and we haven't hit bottom yet, but I'm relieved they seem to be taking the better option.

[Ddrak]

Fair points. Paulson's a smart guy, fortunately.

Dd

[Embar Angylwrath]

Fair points. Paulson's a smart guy, fortunately.

Dd

I question that assumption. There have been warnings about this for several years. Paulson has missed the mark. So has Bernanke. Hell, Paulson can't even explain how all this is supposed to work. Did you see his interview after the failure of the first vote? There was no substance or explanation on how the bail-out bill was supposed to work.

Read this....

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles ... 100108.txt

[Thorg Frostfist]

Central bank hacked: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,435681,00.html

Tyler Durden in the flesh?

[Embar Angylwrath]

The DOW is down over 40% from last year's high. That's fucking AMAZING. That translates into a loss of worth of over $8 trillion dollars. Our national debt is a little over $10 trillion dollars at last count (I think). These are phenomenal numbers.