The Dow is taking a dive today.

The House voted down the bailout bill.... looks like the market is gonna take a BIG hit today.

This thing is happening all over the world: In Belgium 2 of the 3 biggest banks lost 23% and 30% of stock market value, the worst in 12 years.

This after the news that the governments of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxemburg bought 11 billion worth of shares to aide those 2 banks.

I just saw that the Central Bank (in Europe) is doubling the amount of cash available to all banks.

The Dow Jones is now down 650 points with about 40 minutes before trading ends today.

I'm glad we look at things long-term or else I'll be really, really ill right now... instead of just really ill.

Many of the Democrats and Republicans who voted against it were those facing re-election and received enormous numbers of calls from their constituents pleading with them to not vote for the bill. People have lost site of what is at risk; standing on ideology largely communicated as nothing more than spin.

We are not bailing out Wall Street fat cats. We are doing what is necessary to keep our economy from imploding and hurting millions of Americans.

What SHOULD be done and what IS being done are often two vastly different things. Today is a perfect example.

The market has rebounded somewhat in the last 20 minutes but looks like it will still close about 600 points down.

People think it's just about BAD banks. But if something isn't done, good companies can't get loans and will layoff. Good companies with NO mortgage issues (Honda, Caterpillar) are paying usuarious rates for cash, and that market FROZE a couple weeks back. And the only stop has been the promise of this plan. No lending, means they can't make payroll and will have to layoff.


Come on people, think of the big pic. And, yes, monkey must be flying out of my butt because I'm with Bush on this one!!

This bi-partisan shit MUST stop!! The finger pointing and name calling is total bullshit. We have more important things to worry about.

The Dow is now down 738 points.

I'm really afraid of a panic now.

778

Fuck...

You know what? Let the economy implode, fuck it. I've been poor all my life, I've lived without running water and electricity, we'll all be fine. I don't want to bail out banks because they made predatory loans and bad decisions! No one has bailed me out. No one has bailed out the struggling families and small businesses. Fuck banks.

Long, you need to do some homework. Few people on this Board understand the financial threads that weave their way through the US economy that originate on Wall Street.

Misery loves company. You're poor? You're poor as you define it. It can be alot worse. Try homeless without any electricity and water on the horizon. That will be what alot of Americans (alot of them) will experience if credit dries up, if people are afraid to invest in capital creation or business expansion. You ought to talk to someone who lived through the Depression. There aren't many left anymore, so hurry.

You're probably going to get shanked when when the anarchists strike tomorrow.

Real nice attitude there Longneck but since you have children(I'm assuming, yeah I know what they say about assumptions)you might want to rethink your attitude.

Now I'm not saying that the banks are completely blameless here, but at the same time blame also goes to the idiotic citizens who took out these outrageous loans, in the first place. People need to pay better attention to their finances, if they would then they would not be going after loans they can't pay back. And thus the banks wouldn't have made those loans in the first place.

But hell most of the blame goes to the freakin democrats in the first place.

Why?

Hell, last I checked, 60+ Democrats and 1/3rd of the GOPers voted against the bill.

They both fucked up.

Really, I'm in mood for partisan politicking today after that bullshit this afternoon, which was done simply to stick it to the other side...

Does the Financial Crisis Threaten Your Job?

In his testimony last week, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, warned that the sharp rise in the cost of short-term credit, and the corresponding difficulty that companies and individuals face if they want to obtain a loan, pose “a direct threat to economic growth.” Just as important for most Americans is the threat to their jobs. What does the credit crunch mean for job growth? Is your job in jeopardy?

As I explain below, this financial crisis is likely to threaten middle- and upper-income jobs to a greater extent than has been the case in past recessions.

There is little doubt that the crisis has already hurt job growth. The unemployment rate has climbed from 5.1 percent when Bear Stearns was taken over by JPMorgan Chase with the Fed’s help in March 2008 to 6.1 percent last month. And the unemployment rate is likely to rise further — and remain high for a considerable period after the financial crisis subsides and economic growth resumes.

Obviously, jobs in the banking, finance, construction and residential real estate sectors will take a direct hit because the problem started with a bubble in home prices. But the damage is likely to spread to other sectors. Industries that rely on customers who use credit to buy their goods are especially vulnerable. Thus jobs in durable goods manufacturing — such as autos, heavy household appliances and business equipment — are likely to be hit hard.

Historically, most downturns have hit the least-skilled the hardest, as employers hold on to workers with unique skills who would be expensive to replace. This downturn, however, is likely to be more democratic than the norm because of the severity of the credit crunch. Research indicates that employers hire relatively more skilled workers when they invest in new plant and equipment, especially high-tech information and computing equipment (the so-called “capital-skill complementarity” hypothesis). If funds for investment are not available because of the financial crisis, however, companies will hire fewer skilled workers.

Consistent with this prediction, initial signs indicate that the employment shock has been felt more by college graduates than by those with a high school degree or less. The seasonally adjusted share of college graduates who are employed fell by 1.6 percentage points from March to August 2008, while the share of high school graduates and high school dropouts employed rose by 0.6 and 0.2 percentage points, respectively. (See chart below.)

What does this mean for you? Even in the best of times the United States labor market is highly volatile, with millions of jobs being created and destroyed each month. But just because your job may have been safe in past downturns does not mean it will be secure this time. Key questions you should ask are: Does your company need investment funds to upgrade plant and equipment to compete with other companies? Do your customers rely mainly on credit to buy your product or service? Do you do business with companies that are hard hit by the financial crisis? If your answers to these questions are yes, your job is more likely to be at risk.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/does-the-financial-crisis-threaten-your-job/

Here's the Roll Call of the vote today:

Democrats backed the bailout by 140 - 95 votes, or roughly 60% - 40%

Republicans opposed it by 133 to 65, or 67% - 33%.

So that is what, 40% of the Democratic Party revolting at Pelosi, and 66% of the GOP revolting at Bush.

This is crap.

Amen.

$3.47 for a 5lb bag of potatoes

$1 for a DVD.

And 100% are simply revolting.

Senate passes the bill.

Well, time to get ready for the big crash...

Now I expect it'll pass, but how can you possibly know that now. I am supposedly watching it live and they are expecting an announcement, but I haven't heard them announce it yet. What's up with that? You ruined the ending.

Seriously, they haven't announced it passed yet.


TIS

I watched it pass on CSPAN. It's live @ the Senate and Congress.

It's fun for us history loving dorks.

And now Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a major Obama supporter, is claiming that the next possible President is why the bailout bill finally passed.

and I think BULLSHIT.

I guess Obama gave him a good deal to spout such nonsense today?

"I won't cut your daddy's nuts off for his comments against me earlier this year."

Okay, so the Senate passed the rescue bill. But I'm not sure that it will pass the House.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the opening bell tomorrow morning.

What the fuck? They added tax cuts along with it? Yeah, that'll help, not like the government needs that money or anything. It's only an extra 100 Billion...