Comments about ‘Financial meltdown — Dow's plunge is worst since 9/11’

Phil Graham, one of Mccain's financial advisers, helped deregulate the investment banking system to allow the mess that is going on now. Greedy banks were supposed to regulate themselves. HA!

Obama called it "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression"?
The media calls it the worst financial meltdown since 9/11 2001.- Mr. Obama would have us believe he alone can save us? I doubt it!
I guess Mr. Obama never studied history. The initial crash occurred on Black Thursday 79 years ago, (October 24, 1929), but it was the downturn of Black Monday and Tuesday (October 28 and October 29, 1929).. Since then automatic safety devices have prevented another panic. I trust Mr. Bush and John McCain when they say that Wall Street can handle this. I don't trust a panicked leader like Mr. Obama when he says the sky is falling-the sky is falling.

Finally. Our economy is highly inflated, highly being an understatement. The government needs to let this crash and stop bailing out companies. The people, whom created the government also need to take it back, in particular we need to get rid of the federal reserve and the bank establishment which is THE reason why we are in this situation in the first place.

Americans can no longer afford houses thanks to easy credit, i.e. The Federal Reserve. Things are going the way of California here in Utah where a 3 bedroom house costs 450k. As of 5 years ago there is now no feasible way for someone to buy even a modest home without going into serious debt.

It passed me why in the crash of 1929 the people didn't beat the doors down of the federal reserve then, but now is the time we must correct histories errors.

Chuck Baldwin '08

This has happened before and will happen again. Nothing to see here, please move along!

How this country has been able to float its way along on non existant money has finally shown its teeth. Just as consumers can't live forever on credit neither can the giants like Wall Street and the wealthy who rely on income from stocks. Our country is finally coming to grips that america has no money or value. It is a world of make believe. Free enterprise to be valid must have some value and america has none. And its not over yet. The workers and consumers are part of the cascading colapse in the economy. The colapse is a financial one and this proves very well that a cashless society will never have any value. The money in your pocket has value and possesion paid for have value but everything else is a float, money you don't have and subject to your economics. That is why americans should be saving and not with the purchase of stocks or bonds, but with cash deposits. Our monetary system of debt is showing why debt has no value. The only sound and financialy secure are those with cash reserves, not including home equity, and little if any debt.

The Republicans have told us there is nothing wrong with the economy. And even if there was, after 8 years of GOP rule the economic problems would be because of the liberals.

Bush has destroyed our economy, the value of the dollar, our reputation in the world and stretched our military too thin. His administration with the support of a Republican Congress for six years, implemented these policies of destruction and his veto since has kept them in place.

John McCain was once a Maverick that I respected, but he sold his soul to get the Republican nomination. He will be controlled by the party no different that George Bush. To vote with the Christian Right, which is neither Christian nor Right, that despises our state and all we stand for, in the belief they will overturn Roe v Wade is naive. The Bush administration promised to overturn it, but did not deliver and neither will McCain.

Obama is not the perfect solution, but the best alternative available. He understands the world because he has lived abroad. He understands that the power of the USA is on main street, not wall street and he is a Christian man of faith.

The last thing we need is four more years of McBush.

Hooray for George Bush!
Yep, end gov. regulation and banks do this to themselves.
The economy only thrives under democrats, Bush had done almost everything he can to undo a once great nation.

don't worry everyone, they (bankers and economists) are still saying that the economy is stable. Yeah right. We are in for a rude awakening...

This country is heading for the same demise as Lehmans. In as short as 20 to 30 years. No politicians will correct the situation, because it is not politically expedient, the American people demand more of government, we should be demanding less. It will be imposible to tax our way out of the mess, curtailing spending drastically is the only answere and I don't see that happening.

Greed, accompanied with unethical and unwise business and personal finance practices are having their own consequences both on a national and ultimately on a personal level.

As a nation and personally we must learn to stay out of debt and to keep greed from ruining ourselves.

The financial debacle that began with unwise lending practices is now filtering down to all of us.

My parents survived the Great Depression by being self-reliant, and living on what they could earn or doing without. This is a lesson we now will get to learn.

We can't depend upon the Government to bail us out of everything--why, it is imprudent in its own practices!

In 1492 The Spanish empire was at its height of glory, but also beginning its downfall. Its economy was bankrupt, it was overextended with its imperialism and involved in too many foreign wars that depleted resources. After Ferdinand and Isabella's reign, Spain had lousy leaders for several hundred years. Does this sound familiar?

Are we on a similar track? How can we turn this around? Personally, by being prudent, nationally--I don't know. We're in an awfully deep hole that won't be easy to crawl out of.

Republicans are constantly telling us nothing is wrong and that all the warnings they have been given aren't right. They want us to believe everything is great, okay and will work itself out and fail to mention that if something drastic isn't done then we will be in a depression instead of a recession.

We saw a run on the bank with IndyMac, and now we have seen the government bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Worst yet is the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the bail out of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America. Yet, its those greedy "wall street" people who it is easy to blame since they aren't up for election.

Let's look at the flawed policies of George W. Bush and the flawed policies proposed by John McCain who has openly admitted that he isn't very good on the economy. After all it's not his strong suit but we should trust him at a time of crisis which could easily result in a depression if we don't have strong economic leadership.

Anonymous,

"I trust Mr. Bush and John McCain when they say that Wall Street can handle this. I don't trust a panicked leader like Mr. Obama when he says the sky is falling-the sky is falling."

You trust a guy who says ""I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

And then lies about it in an interview with Tim Russert who asked " "Senator McCain, you have said repeatedly, 'I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.' Is it a problem for your campaign that the economy is now the most important issue, one that, by your own acknowledgement, you're not well versed on?"

McCain responded with his usual lying by saying: " "Actually, I don't know where you got that quote from. I'm very well versed in economics." McCain has also said """The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."

Do we really want a President who learns on the job like McCain's whose clearly senile or a liar.

The Republican economic plan of redistributing wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy is right no schedule.

What has happened here is the lack of learning from the past. The warning signs were all around this time just as they were before the internet crash after greed kept driving up stock prices without value behind them. The real estate market crash was exactly the same thing...triggered by greed on prices that anyone could see could not keep climbing at unreasonable rates. Here again lies greed, this time on hedging on oil prices. We have become a society in large driven by greed and are now paying the price. The age old addage that "if it seems to be too good to be true, it is" is once again, proven correct. Hard lessons to learn, AGAIN!

Give us the answers O! greedy righties. Who is to blame for this lastest mess? What do you want now? Who are the leaders that can correct this fiasco? Give us all your expert analysis PLEASE. We are lost, what should we do?

We just need to stay the course. Our economy is just going through a "slow" period. Just you wait for your next surplus check of $500, that will solve all your problems!

If I were Mike Richards, I'd just blame everything on Clinton and the Democratic Congress which came into power in just the last two years to try and make up for 6 years of mess.

Unbelievable...

Well, this is what happens when you give big tax breaks to the rich, don't hold anyone accountable(see the countless examples like ENRON), let oil companies dictate the prices(consumption has gone down, even in china this year, so why did prices double?), continue a war without financing it, and increase big government spending.

Before we vote for that R once again Utah, let's please think of our future... Your children's future... And your grand children's future.

Please can someone explain how we didn't nominate Mitt Romney for President? Seems like it would have been a good idea considering the mess we're in.

To Mitt @ 9:18: two reasons, firstly and overtly, because the McCain campaign correctly recognized they needed to use the VP nomination to "shake things up", and generate some excitement. Mr. Romney probably would have been less "exciting" than Ms. Palin.

Secondly, and insidiously: because John McCain has been shamelessly pandering to the evangelical Christian faction of his party and base. This vocal minority would not have liked the nomination of someone whose religious beliefs don't square with theirs. Unpleasant to think about, I agree, but the honest truth and something we should throw out in a non-confrontational way if we ever hope to make it any better. People will always prefer candidates that they perceive as "just like themselves", but people's biases ought not be things that we allow them to cloak in platitudes.

Who can deny that this world in a horrible situation?

However, rest assured that the rich are still getting more than their share. I'd love to goggle and see what the to see what CEO's of involved companies are making.

The Jazz basketball players seem to be in pretty good shape, the highest earning over $100,000 per game.

Oh, and don't forget oil companies, the original firms receiving great support from the government. Now that the price of crude is $95 per barrel, don't expect the price to lower soon. Have you noticed their latest ploy to sucker drivers? All of a sudden it costs more than 10 cents to manufacture different grades of gasoline -- I first noticed it when I saw Chevron charging about 18 cents between grades.

Last of all, don't expect hope from the US Government. President Bush has been a disaster; Congress has proven that they are unable or unwilling to do anything and the persons running on the two main tickets are scary: McCain will keep us at war; Pallin gets her share of perks which politicians expect; Obama is a scary unknown; and Biden will continue business as usual in DC.