Evening Buzz: Money Meltdown
Maureen Miller
AC360° Writer
Oh, how the last hour of trading seems to be brutal on Wall Street. Just like yesterday, the Dow took a nosedive just before the closing bell. Stocks sank more than 400 points within 60 minutes leaving the Dow at its lowest level in five years. Blue chips ended the day down 678 points at 8,579. You read that right. The Dow is now below 9,000. It's at its lowest level in five years and has lost 40% in the past year. Ouch!
Tonight, we're also tracking the Asian markets where trading is already underway. They can set the tone for trading tomorrow on Wall Street.
And, we'll check in with CNN's Ali Velshi to get a sense of why investors are still nervous. Personal finance expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is also here to talk about what this all means for your bank account.
What do you think needs to be done to help stabilize the markets?
Tonite, we'll also reveal who's number two on our list of the 10 most wanted: Culprits of the Collapse.
All that more at 10pm ET.
Hope you can join us!
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Filed under: Maureen Miller • The Buzz |
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Good for you in posting the most wanted; that retreat with our tax dollars ...OMG!!!
This is the mindset of America unofrtunately, spend and party and play like the programs are all to frequent, "go wild and play".
We need to get some morals and ethics back in our society and quit wating for a politician to save us from ourselves.
CNN, you are doing a good job, but it should be unveiled more about "we the people" whom have spent beyond our means with no intention of paying it back that has contributed to this meltdown as well.
is there anyway to recover the money from the 10 most wanted?
Get rid of the markets all together, they are just a highly sophisticated way of gaining control of the human thought process by connecting us to forces greater than ourselved which are not in our sphere of influence. Now our government and other governments around the world have a perfect excuse to continue grabbing more power from the people in their continued effort to subjegate us further. Conspiracy you say....the world today has been founded upon a history of conspiracies.
the markets will be back eventually . try to stop selling.
how about tax incentives for corps. that manufacture in usa?
I don't believe anything can be done to help stop the world markets from crashing.The so called 'Bailout Bill' has failed and so has the Fed's rate cut.We are on the verge of a Greater Depression based not on world markets,but collapse of world governments.At this point I have no interest in the upcoming election,mainly because I don't believe there will be an election.Our current leaders have betrayed and failed us.Both political parties are to blame.
Bill Burge
Marion,Iowa
The markets will only become stable when the housing market is stable. We need to remove every adjustable and int only loans.
We need the coventional 30 yr fixed rate loans. This will change the problem for the future allowing payments to adjust. The government needs to step in and make a national change. The rate at this time is 6% this would help stabilize the housing market and spending.
How can homeowners go shopping when they can't afford their home payments, gas or food. This is the only way to prevent future events.
Bob
Why did we not take the $840 billion and created jobs–infrastructure, alternate source of energy, more teachers, police force, etc. Wouldn't that helped to restart the economy? More jobs, more buying, suppliers providing the products needed for these jobs. And why do we not make the Wall Street return some of the personal profits that they reaped or should I say 'ripped off' from the same companies they were supposed to represent? Where were the Board of Directors when all of these deals were going on? They also need to be held accountable.
If our financial situation gets much worse, we should write to England, France and Spain apologize and explain we are coming home and bringing the kids.
I am ashamed to be an American. People are losing their homes, insurance companies are making tons of money, we are in a war that will never settle a civil war that has been going on for centuries. Our allies are few and the world looks at us and laughs. Can you please answer me why these candidates can't tell us how they are going to lead us out of this mess THE GOVERNMENT themselves put us in. We need a revolution from the old politics and welcome them to the new world.
FAIL TO HEED THIS and YOU GET FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON!!!
The root of the problem lies with the Federal Reserve. This place is not–as many may inclined to believe–a government entity. It is owned by the Morgans and the Rockefellers (as the public entity known as Citibank and or Citigroup.) Our government turns this entity to borrow money, as it did for the $700 billion dollar "sellout" of Wall Street. This is money that IS NOT based on the gold standard. Instead, it is printed out of thin air costing this group absolutely nothing. But they make millions and millions in the interest it charges our government to borrow this money as printed from thin air as based on inflation.
There is a reason that our Constitution addresses this very issue warning that any government that does not take charge of its own currency, will fail. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to pay the piper because the chickens have come home to roost.
Everything else is just distraction.
In your "Culprits of the Collapse" don't forget the ratings agencies. Were the analysts at Fitch, Moodys, S&P et al incompetent, following orders, or being paid to give highly leveraged derivatives government bond type ratings. Also who gave banks permission to buy these instruments and carry them "off balance sheet?" No wonder they won't lend to each other.
What the people in the us congress don't want to realize is that the economy is going to fall before they come up with a plan to help the economy that will suffice.
Why do we not hear a bit more regarding those of us who have recently retired, have no ways to increase our portfolios, will not be helped by the market since it may take time to increase and our funds may not get to levels we worked for to be just comfortable. I have some stock, the company $ value has now dropped like most of them; its a great company, but is left to the "wolves" as other companies are. What do we do??????????? There's some cash available. My husband and I are not at medicare age; when that arrives our healthcare costs alone will take up much of our small pensions and social security. We were well off, owning a home and a waterfront lake home, which will still require property taxes to be paid. Markets are not moving, we had plans to consolidate things, but are caught as everyone else. What do your financial people recommend?? Thanks for your time. I do hope someone could give us some advice.
Every financial analyst tells you not to move your money in your 401K. They seem to be talking more to people who have several years before retirement. However, those of us who expect to retire very soon, and in my case, don't have that much money in the 401k, are frightened to death that there will be nothing left when the market improves.
What has led to all of this is that everyone wants to gouge the american citizens and put money in their pockets and watch the us economy fall. Dow jones fell 678 points in 24 hours. It is because us congress doesn't want to work out a flexible plan to help the economy. This is what everyone doesn't realize: OUR ECONOMY IS GOING TO FALL FASTER THAN THEY CAN COME UP WITH A PLAN THAT WILL SUFFICE.
There are so many variables so I do not believe that the average person can adequately comment. But as an accountant I see the effects down here on "Main Street". Everyone is fearful and waiting to see what the next day will bring.
Today I received a letter from John McCain's campaign requesting money. It was a fear based letter telling us Republican's that we need to send as much money as possible to stop those Democrats. As a Republican I was totally disgusted. Can John McCain actually think we have money to give him?
With all of the money spent on the AIG bailout because it was 'too big to fail" , why is there no discussion of anti-trust issues? If this behemoth's business was split up amongst 3 or 4 smaller companies, if one or several of these were in trouble they could have been taken over by the open market without taxpayer involvement.
Bill Thorn
Anguilla, British West Indies
While pointing the finger at Wall Street may support one's state of denial, we have all had a part in creating this mess. While taking money from the banks for mortgages that overpriced the value of our homes, praising our investment bankers for the humongous dividends produced by inflated markets, we are all now paying for our greed. Yes, some things were done wrong by the investors but the benefits they gained were overlooked because many of us were getting paid too.
Now we've all got to come out of this state of blind denial, adjust our lifestyles, and recognize that the lifestyles of the rich & famous was just a television show. We've got to impress upon our government to tighten the regulations and each of us has to tighten our purse strings and wait this thing out. In the words of my candidate, "can we do it? YES WE CAN!"
seems at this point, all that is left is to hang on tight for the ride until it's all over! All I am doing is playing the waiting game.
My wife and I did not invest much in the stock market, but we invested in real estate. We have lost 33% of the value of our real estate. We are retired and were counting on our real estate investments for our retirement. Now my wife is back to work.
One way to begin to solve this economic problem is to stop spending 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq. We need to bring the troops home. I am an Air Force veteran and I support the troops, but I don't support the costly Bush war. Bush lost his focus in Iraq – he could have been able to see the problems in the economy, but he was mired in this international conflict that was unessary from the start. Shame on him. It is time for a change – we are voting for Obama/Biden.
Personnally... I think the dow bottom will be high 6700 to low 7300.
Confidence is S-H-O-T. People will purchase NECESSITY and pay certain bills.
American society is waiting on new leadership with a PLAN. Whom every becomes president elect, needs a consortium of the best economists from the PUBLIC sector meaning (University and Colleges) 21st century needs to be enacted.
As was said in a Reagan Era movie "Greed is Good"... at least this is true if you are a Wall Street CEO. We all now what payback is... and what went around is still coming around. Unfortunately, it will be the ultimate challenge for the new administration to help the average American survive this near meltdown, without leaving us all feeling that the executives that helped get us here, will not be sharing the pain they and the "trickle down" enthusiasts have provided for our children.
It scares me that Paulson is in charge of all of this money. How do we know he isn't going to get us into a bigger mess than we are already in? I'm a grad student with about $20,000 worth of debt racked up from my undergraduate studies. I can't even make the interest payments on my loans and that has made my credit score low... I can't get ahead! How is Paulson going to help ME??
What an example we could set as a world power if we started a trend...the gold standard!
I really think the average credit score needs an adjustment,it is unfair to most...why are we prisoners to this number?