Down 34.08% in one year
Well that’s depressing.
Between 10/9/07 and 10/08/08, the Dow lost 4785.63 points - 34.08% of its value.
October 8th, 2008 by Glenden Brown 
Glenden Brown
October 8th, 2008 by Glenden Brown Glenden Brown
Well that’s depressing.
Between 10/9/07 and 10/08/08, the Dow lost 4785.63 points - 34.08% of its value.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Every time I complained about how Bush’s economy was tanking, the right-wing 20 percenters always told me, “hey, look at the stock market!” OK, so now what are we supposed to look at?
October 8th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
What are we going to do when people can’t make money with money anymore?
October 8th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
The Dow could go to 7700, which it hit in September 2002. But over time, I believe the Dow will come back. The Dow is a leading indicator.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Markets are cyclical.
Granted, that’s no help if you’re up for retirement.
Then again, most of your money should have moved to “same as cash” and other non-aggressive investments as you moved closer to retirement. It’s not like the drill is some huge secret.
The good news is that real estate is cheap right now!
October 8th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Absolutely, yes, markets are cyclical. But this gives every indication of being anything but a normal, cyclical downturn. The US economy is in trouble at almost every level. A loss of over one third of the Dow’s value over a year is no ordinary downturn - along with the collapse of the housing market, the all but collapse of American savings (1.3%?! Seriously! That’s worse than the 1930s), all add up to something that compares to the collapse of the Great Depression.
Will the Dow recover? Yes, in time. Will the economy recover? Yes in time. However, the IMF is predicting a deep, long recession for the US. I read today they expect a two year recession. That translates into a rough ride.
Worse of all, IMHO, is how much of this crash could have been avoided.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I don’t mean to be an alarmist and what I am about to write is not set in stone or prophetic it is simply looking at the natural result of our collective actions. The United States is in trouble right now because by and large, We the people have abandoned the principles this country was founded on. We have become fat and happy and thought the boom economy would last forever. We thought that we had somehow transcended the natural laws that govern us. We have deceived ourselves and we are going to see what our arrogance has wrought. If or when our economy goes down like a house of cards we will no longer concern ourselves with made up crises’ such as global warming. When unemployment is 20-30% or higher we will no longer have an immigration problem and there will be no jobs that Americans are not willing to do. When jobs are so hard to come by, and that are employed will be willing to work for pennies just to feed their family’s and be happy to work at McDonald’s just so they can finish off those excess fries, then people will once again embrace long abandoned values and realize that the natural laws that have governed us since mankind first walked the Earth still apply today.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Snooooore!
October 8th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
And then what, Ken? The constitution will hang by a thread? And if it is to be saved, it will be saved by the (mormon) priesthood? And then what? The end days? The apocalypse? Christ comes in flames and glory?
Sadly, Ken, just like all the rest of the wacked out fundamentalist end-days believing Christians, I can see you are actually HAPPY to see this crisis. To you it’s a ’sign of the times.’ I don’t mean to alarm you, but Jesus is not coming to rescue us.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Ken:
You sound really depressed. Are you finally coming off your Bush-high?
October 8th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Ok, I was pretty harsh earlier, so I’m back to apologize. I get way too pissed when I listen to doomsdayer doomsayers. But that’s not your fault, Ken, that’s my problem. Anyway, believe what you will, I still think you have a lot to learn. But I’ll try to be more circumspect in my future comments.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:07 am
eh…Ken’s predictions aside…
A natural phase of economic systems is/are large depressions.
Some ups, some downs, some Big Ups, some big downs. These things happen. That’s why you diversify. That’s why you invest for the LONG TERM. That’s why anything else is GAMBLING.
Look. House prices go up. Period. Even the folks on the edge of Love Canal have had increases in the value of their properties. There’s only so much real estate. And unless you’r living in Holland or Dubai, they aren’t making any more of it.
It sure sucks that parts of the market tanked. What sucks more is the 3rd grade finger pointing. Either it’s Gramm Leach or the CRA or Fannie Mae or dastardly Republicans or corrupt Democrats….
So what? Do we paralyze ourselves assigning blame? Or do we work our way through?
A theme of modern economic thought (and a style of revisionist history I despise) postulate that programs like the WPA and the NRA enacted by FRD extended the depression.
MAYBE
BUT…they put people to work doing good things. Like building schools and bridges and public works projects….and helping folks feel like they were worth something…snapping them out of the apocalyptic funk….
Get over it. Get back to work. Your grandparents had it worse….
October 9th, 2008 at 6:33 am
If the government takes the right actions, unemployment will not hit 20%. Fed Chairman Bernanke wrote his Ph.D. thesis on “Long-term commitments, dynamic optimization, and the business cycle” and and has written three textbooks on macroeconomics, and one on microeconomics. Sure, he can make mistakes, but he is one smart cookie and isn’t likely to repeat the mistakes of the early 1930’s.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:43 am
There could be a case made that Barack Obama is no longer a citizen of the United States. In his speech in Germany last year he renounced his US citizenship by proclaiming himself to be a “citizen of the world”.
According to Immigration law there are a number of ways that a US citizen can lose their citizenship. here is one of them..
5. Making a formal renunciation of US citizenship before a US consular officer or diplomat in a foreign country;
Obama renounced his US citizenship in a foreign country and I’m sure there was a diplomat in attendance at his speech.
If Obama is a citizen of the world and not a citizen of the United States then he is ineligible to be President.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Senator Barack Obama, July 24, 2008:
President Ronald Reagan, June 17, 1982:
October 9th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Ken:
You are sounding more hysterical every day. Get over it!
Your party’s party at the trough of American taxpayers is finished!
If you want to do something to make yourself feel better, encourage your children to enlist and go fight in Bush’s war. Then you’ll have something to be hysterical about.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:07 am
RW
Oh so Obama plagiarized Reagan’s words huh?
October 9th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Ken– No, Obama said he was proud to be a U.S. citizen. Reagan did not.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Oh Ken….must you sully the discussion with such crap? You’re starting to sound like Larry with the Diebold/Blackwater thing….
October 9th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Richard W:
How did you find those two quotes? You have a full time staff, don’t you?
By Kens own words, Reagan was an illegitimate president. Nice work Rich!
October 9th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Larry– I’ll admit it, there was nothing to it. Ken recycled a months-old GOP talking point. People with more time to spend on political research already debunked this back in July, so I remembered the Reagan quote. It was absurdly easy to look up.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Damn Al Gore’s internet!