Posted.

My mattress is safe in a credit union.........oops, er,.......uh
What is anyone to do except advocate for calm and neighborliness.
We have to stick together. We can say with some certainty the mega-wealthy are closing ranks. Some of the old money however, will be visible, helping the best they can.

Ew. Scary. So we could be in for a long, bumpy ride. The news said the Dow slipped below 10,000 today despite the bailout nonsense that went on last week. Our stock market has been due for a correction for a while. Thanks for posting these graphs.

The long and bumpy part makes me unhappy. Lots of people could be badly hurt. I feel for them.

a picture speaks a thousand words. thank you.

I got caught in the double rally/fall of 2000 after an incredible run. I came out still ahead, but lost half of my winnings back, even though I anticipated the major rally far ahead of my broker. Shorting the Diamonds and Spyders whenever there is a rally is usually my goal. the indicators are still fair game to short, though stocks are not fair game right now, and not generally as safe to short, plus you don't need an upturn w/indicators. Since I am not a broker, don't take that as a recommendation, consult first with the guys with the licenses. trouble with shorting is you need to sit and watch your trading platform constantly until you have pulled your short, or you will wind up pulling your shorts wedgy-like, as a slow suicide mission.

Thanks for this Black Bart. I've been on the phone the last couple of days with my stock brokers. It's making me a little crazy I will say. I have a fair amount of my retirement in stocks. The companies are extremely conservative companies, but still I wonder if I shouldn't just pull everything out and put it in something safe. My brokers are saying otherwise, but isn't that their job? It's very confusing.

This post is not to suggest that we are entering a depression. I am not trying to scare anyone. Long term investments will most likely be okay 5 years from now. Please do not look at these two charts and panic. That is not my intent.

OMgosh! Just LOOK at those stats......
Something else tells me this isn't the first, nor will it be the last...
In the see-saw of existance, one perhaps should learn how to maintain affluent trends... what would that take....
The mind boggles!

what would that take....? Nahatsu

I don't know....................luck? Absurd luck? We might as well laugh about this financial mess. It beats the alternative.

Jeebus Christmas! Did the market fall off a cliff today, or what!?!

Looking for yr latest entry I arrived here at the place where I had already left a comment; but I hadn't seen your reply to mine!
What would it take indeed....
Yeah; there's a reason I am not a senior exec in the corporate world or the world of...who knows... not that up to scratch either way!
I learned some small amount on statistics as a reflection on production in a job I had in the 80's.... hence my reply!
However, I agree with what you say: and light hearted approaches can sometimes bring results; where getting all heavy about it kills things....bringing in negative yields....so does this SOUND like I know what I'm talkin about?!
LOL((( laughter))) ((^_^))

The structural problems are still there, so there is no basis for a recovery. Or so I see it. This one could grind on for a long time, probably not nearly so steep at '29-'32, but if we don't get things fixed, I see no reason we get out of the hole.

It took awe-inspiring and massive federal expenditures to get us outta the Great Depression, and I'm not talking the WPA and other programs -- I'm talking about all of them, combined with World war II (including massive federal investment in basic R&D), combined with the GI bill (educated workforce, growth in low-wage income) to get us out of that one.

Our hole isn't as deep yet, but the basic insolvency of institutions, tapped out nature of credit for consumers, and whacked out income inequality that existed then have their parallels now.

If you happen to hold stocks, sell into rallies and buy into weakness. If you have weak stocks that you bought at a high price, double down.

Hey BB - thanks for posting that. I guess my IRA is guest-starring on "Lost" until 2012 - just in time to have that idiot Sarah Palin make a run for the Presidency - or barring that, a seat on "The View". But if anyone can keep us calm during this downturn, it's Obama. I'm not saying he'll be able to change anything (if ever there was a "scorched earth" exit strategy, Bush has perfected it). I'll just feel calm with Pres. Obama at the helm of our floundering ship. I suggest we all go up to the people we know who voted for Bush and ask them for some spare change. They owe it to us.

One upside of poverty--maybe the only one apart from the higher class of people you meet--is that you're not likely to have a lot at risk in a serious financial downturn. I did make sure the very little I was able to invest in RRSPs for the first time last year were in a guaranteed fund. I don't know if I'll make much over the five year term, but I'm guaranteed not to lose the principal. I certainly think whatever else can be said about the current market situation, it's rather sternly advising caution.

I agree with you that those of us who can afford to leave our investments alone for 5 years are probably OK. But for a lot of people, that's wishful thinking. I have a friend who had lost her job in June and her husband is an independent contractor in the housing industry -- so, no reliable income right now. In September, their home was foreclosed, and now they've lost their car. They are hardworkers, and they -- of all people -- are paying the price imposed by this crisis.

Perhaps the comparison is more apt now.