Nothing could possible go worng!

[pyat]

Thanks to normanrafferty for the link.

Remember when George W. Bush tried to sell the nation on the idea of investing social security funds in the stock market?

Comments

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

That defeats the whole "security" part of Social Security. I've got a pretty fat 401K account. Or at least I did. I lost $30,000 in the past week. These are virtual dollars for me since I have a minimum of 20 years working ahead of me. It's not such a big deal for me. But, were I ten years older, this would be a real worry. Were I sixty this year, I'd be very scared because the loss would mean something like ten years less living expenses.

general all terrain rant

[paka.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the USA. Our big problems are getting our kids education, keeping our roads in good order, providing for the elderly, and helping the population stay healthy, which means we're concerned about abortion, Queers, atheism, and international terrorism. The same party that gave us the prosperity and quiet centrism of Eisenhower granted us the recession, union-bashing and deficit spending of Reagan, so you can guess which president we're supposed to regard as some sort of saint. Economic downturns are integral to capitalism, so we believe the free market economy solves everything and is an adequate way to address any problem we have other than those fixed by religious organizations.

Re: general all terrain rant

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

This downturn is something different. The distrust in the system is such that none of the players will participate in the credit system. The problem is that this collapse was engineered. All the regulations which kept this from happening have been systematically removed over the course of thirty years. The system which caused this was constructed and it was not not constructed along traditional capitalist lines. What made capitalism work was transparency and the ability of anyone to enter. The system that has been erected has been constructed specifically to make it hard to oversee and to be closed to most people. The problem is that when make a system hard to oversee, you also make it hard for the players to understand the deal. Thus finance has become a high stakes poker game in which each player has an ace up their sleeve.

[rowyn]

Don't laugh. Not only the US government but every first-world government is considering actions which are, effectively, buying stock right now. To prop up prices/restore confidence/keep the economy functioning (pick your favorites from the list!)

OTOH, now buying stock has the virtue of being cheap. >:)

[aslowhite.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*