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Dow finishes below 10,000 for first time since '04

Well, that bailout bill did a lot of good. Way to go guys!

I guess the stock market computers were correct.
We can't get above 10,000.

I blame the Republicans and Democrats and the Greed on Wall Street.

Last one out of this economy be sure and turn the lights off.

The wealthy made a killing selling short.

90% of the people are against a bailout. You are the government and you do it anyway.

90% of the people then pull their money out of the banks and the market cause they no longer have any trust left in either.

What did they expect?

Well, here we are, at election time, the Republicans are trying to draw attention away from Wall Street (that only makes them look guilty).
The truth is that there is blame to go around, both parties should be explaining what we need to do to get out of this mess, not trying to avoid it, or blame the other.

We need true leadership right now, we are in this together, and we need to work together.

Thanks for another job well done, shrub!

Gosh, you mean the bailout that just had to be passed didn't work? Shocking, absolutly shocking!! I'm no financial genius but I could have told you that. The government will be back for more money to throw at the fire, just wait.

I guess John McCain better suspend his campaign again.

Cheap stocks! Thank you Congress!

Let's put the blame where it lies. The blame lies directly on the shoulders of Republicans and their economic policies of the last 8 years. Trickle down, deregulation, tax cuts for the very wealthy, unnecessary wars, government for the corporations not the American citizen. Republicans, including Utah Republicans, supported these policies wholeheartedly, and now the chickens have come home to roost. It's a total, and complete failure of Republican policies. Now, we all know that the Republicans are going to blame Democrats, even Clinton who's been out of office for 8 years. But that isn't going to cut it with the majority of Americans any longer. Time for Republicans to step up and be the party of personal responsibility that they claim to be, and own this mess, because it's theirs.

I am very concerned about the future of our financial institutions.

The guilt goes from tha bottom all the way to the top. If we all practiced living within our means we could have avioded giving "preditory lenders" anything to prey upon.

I went to our local credit union 3 years ago and laughed at the posters they had hanging up.

One showed a row boat next to a very nice motor boat and touted their loans saying you could have the nicer of the two.

One you own, one you don't. Who wins? The bank. Who looses? In the end - the bank, the counrty, and YOU.

Think!

All right! An Ernest T. Bass sighting! Where's my camera?

It is worth noting that during the last half century the S&P 500* experienced 11 bear-markets, with an average return of -20% and lasting 13 months.

Each bear market however, was followed by a bull market which increased an average of 119% and lasted 37 months. (Source: Putnam Investments)

S&L AFTERMATH

The last great financial crisis was the Savings and Loan crisis which peaked in October of 1990. During the 12-month period ending 10/31/1990 the markets declined:

S&P 500 -7.47%

S&P 500 Financials -38.60%

S&P Major Regional Banks -48.95%

S&P Money Center Banks -50.84%

Two years later however, the markets had recovered as follows: (10/31/1992)

S&P 500 46.49%

S&P 500 Financials 104.98%

S&P Major Regional Banks 141.85%

S&P Money Center Banks 96.77% (Source: First Trust)

I'm financing a forthcoming trip to vegas by the margin on bringing home several hundred kilograms of beer and the now forbidden malt beverages. Some things are still recession proof.

Housing will continue to slide. My guess is another 20 - 30 percent in SLC. Without credit being freely handed out, few will qualify. Yet we still see list prices at the bubble levels. Wake up people! Take 10-20% off of the market price and you will get buyers. The dow is off 40% from its highs...housing will be at least that.

is to lower the Fed rate right? Then we can expect to see another 10% decline in the dow.

That'll just cause the banks to pay lower interest on savings and checking causing more people to pull their money out.

The only answer is to raise the fed funds rate to 7% now, and get government out of competition with depositors! Do not lower the fed rate - that is the absolutely wrong answer.

When has that word ever been a good word. Weren't we already in debt HELLO. So far, I have not heard one person that has been for the bailout. So once again the American public has been bullswaggled by their fearless leaders. Any time that Bush says "trust me on this" we need to run for the hills. Why didn't we just let the market correct itself, like back in the Saving and Loan days. Every thing worked out then and it would have now. But we have been HAD.The day the bail out was announced our market dropped 800 pts. and the day it didn't pass it went up. Let the banks, merge, the other ones, falter, let the CEO's give back their millions or at least half and GO TO JAIL. Or give the money to the American people so that we can get our finances back in order.

That is absolutely false that the world economic problem lies squarely with the Republicans. It's a blatant lie. Here's why:

1) This problem is a world-wide problem, not limited to the U.S. The socialist governments of France, Sweden, etc., etc. have not been any more successful preventing the meltdown.

2) The Democrats have held the majority in congress for 2 years, overseeing committees such as the banking and finance committees.

3) Democrats pushed Fannie and Freddie to loan money to people who had no business getting mortgage loans. This merely served to artificially ratchet up home prices.

4) I live in one of the bluest states in the U.S. Our economy is MUCH worse than Utah's. So having Democrats in charge doesn't seem to help.

I don't say the Republicans are blameless, but to let the donkeys off the hook is WRONG. And let's not over-react by rushing into the waiting arms of socialism. We all know that system never, ever works. If you disagree, name me one time and place it ever did.

I'm not surprised that the Dow is down. Completely apart from the bailout, consumer confidence, and all that stuff the "expert" spout, the value of stock to an investor is based on return. Either you get a return in dividends or in appreciation when you sell. But the bottom-line value is really what the dividends are. All else is speculation, based largely on inflation. The same is true in real estate. There is a certain value to a home, based on cost to build and your need of just that home. Everything above that is also speculation.

We have been warned for generations about speculation. Wise people are careful to consider the actual value of something--whether stocks or real estate--before they buy. But many of us hoped to make a "profit" with our purchases and didn't consider just how much of that increased "value" was actually based on speculation and inflation.

Now we may have to pay the piper and it's going to hurt. But if we are willing to exercise good financial sense and self-discipline, we may get thru this crisis, too. It's going to be tough and we, including government, are going to have to cut back.