Wild Ride

How about that stock market this week? Talk about a wild ride! Hopefully the free fall of the stock market is at an end with the promise of the emergency infusion of funds from the Federal government to save some companies that are too big to fail. My fear is that the worst is not over. I would like to think that we have hit the bottom but I think that is wishful thinking. I watched what few shares of stock that I have sink almost 50% in two days. So here in my lifetime I have seen my IRA value drop by over 90% during the bursting of the Internet Bubble of 2001. Then two years ago I got caught in the beginning of the Housing Market Bubble and was trapped into paying two mortgages for almost a year. I finally sold my house for a lot less than I had planned and as a result I now have a mortgage that will be paid off when I'm 95 years old. That's one reason I'm still working, to earn enough money to pay my monthly mortgage. That's not the only reason I'm working during my retirement. I enjoy my job working at a local small boutique hotel. My coworkers are interesting and fun to work with, and I enjoy meeting new people. But the wild ride of the market this week brought back to me how tenuous my security is. The terrorists have tried to bring this country down by ramming airplanes in the twin towers of the World Trade Center. However, the deregulation of Wall Street may have achieved what the terrorists couldn't achieve, bringing this country down. Can there still be any question about privatising Social Security and putting those funds in Wall Street?

Like a Lead Balloon

Well folks, in spite of what presidential candidate John McSame said yesterday ("The economy is fundamentally strong), the stock market sank like a lead balloon yesterday on the news that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Of course the one stock holding I have left also dropped drastically in value yesterday. Thus the great Ripoff continues under this Republican administration. And yet we hear "Extend the Bush tax cuts! The economy is fundamentally strong! I'm the change agent! Barack Obama is a Muslin! Sarah Palin is our saviour!" Do you get the feeling that the world is closing in around you? Shortly after George Bush took office I took money out of my bank account (cash) and placed it in a safe place just in case the whole banking system collapsed. At the time some friends of mine thought I was taking extreme measures for something that was unlikely to happen. My "extreme measures" are seeming less and less extreme every day. Fact: I sold all the stock in my IRA account a couple of years ago when the housing market started to collapse. I put those funds in various certificates of deposit. The last CD I had was with a large well known banking institution called Lehman Brothers. The same Lehman Brothers that declared bankruptcy yesterday. Thus, I missed my one cycle of having all my life savings in a failed institution. That was too close of a call for me. I don't want to panic but I keep getting this sickening feeling that the bottom is going to drop out of life as we know it. I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but look around you. We're in a never ending war. The stock market is collapsing. Forty seven million people in this country have no health insurance; and those that do have trouble finding a doctor who will accept new patients. Global warming is fact in spite of what George Bush and his Kool-Aid drinking followers claim to the contrary. And yet the discourse we get from the little man who the Republicans nominated for president is lies, lies and more lies about the Democratic nominee. And the sad fact is, that too many people who vote in this country will buy into those lies. The Republicans know how to use the fear card ("Bar the door Katie! The gays are getting married!") I don't know where this country is going but it doesn't look good now. At least I have a few dollars stashed away for when McBush and McSame totally destroy this country with their selfish and short sighted policies. This blog was not intended to be political but sometimes it's hard to stay away from this subject when one sees that this country is headed towards disaster if John McCain and his moose field dressing vice presidential candidate is elected to serve out another four years of the Bush/Cheney regime. God help us.