Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

Man, everyone wants a slice of that $700 billion -- banks, airlines, auto, NAR. How about sticking with the original purpose? That was bad enough but at least attempted to fix a problem, not just bail out anyone having financial problems in a recession.

I'm looking at you, Pelosi.

As RCC points out the "grim reaper" is loss of jobs (along with divorce, sickness, and death). NOTHING will keep someone in a house who has lost their income and who has no savings (e.g. most Americans).

Housing is toast and most debates are just rhetoric by our "leaders" who are chasing their tails and have no clue what to do.....jabbering monkeys.

On the other hand, all efforts will be made to prop up the stock market so BOTH RE and WS don't crash in parallel. Although one could argue that the DOW going from 14000 to 8000 is more than just a "stumble". Case in point, Paulson does about an about face and says he is no longer going to buy up "toxic assets" and instead...you guessed it...buy bank stocks.

I have friends in their 60's who were oh so close to retirement in 2000 riding the "pets.com" boom only to lose everything when that bubble burst. Instead of investing in safe instruments and planning to live with less, they once again invested heavily in Tech/Financial stocks and some of them have lost 50% of their retirement since last spring...AGAIN!!!

While I feel bad for them, I warned them 3 years ago to cash out with "some gains" which is what I did. I missed the peak gains but can sleep at night knowing my nest egg is "safe".....at least until hyperinflation (thanx Helicopter Ben) sets in.

We live in interesting times.....some might argue a bit "too" interesting.

These days success = last man standing!