Rainy Days and Mondays……..
(singing) Hangin’ around
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down
Man. Nothing can say it like the oldies.
Well, another Monday and another couple of Wall Street Giants have bitten the dust. I’m starting to hate going to sleep on Sunday nights these days. Every weekend that goes by is followed by more damaging economic news. This weekend? Well, Lehman Brothers, a 150 year old Wall Street investment company, filed for bankruptcy protection while Merrill Lynch was bailed out of trouble and purchased by the cash-rich Bank of America.
The odd thing is that no one is even hearing about the trouble these firms are in until a Monday morning announcement that they’ve been bought, filed bankruptcy, or are the beneficiaries of some governmental bailout. That is more worrisome than them going out of business. It leaves me wondering where does this mess end and what other giants are getting ready to go belly up?
This Monday also brought news that the insurance giant AIG is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as well. Oh well, nothing like bad news coming in threes to make the stock market plummet 500 points! And the drop is not over. Asian markets fell again this morning.
The only good news is that crude oil prices fell again. Ironically, gas prices went to over $5.00 per barrel in some places in the south and gas prices have risen this past week because of the ficticious “shortage” of gasoline caused by the shutdown of refineries during the hurricanes. Crude oil prices have dropped almost 40% from their all time highs, yet gas prices at the pump have dropped just 7%.
People in the media are using phrases like “economic meltdown”, “economic Armageddon”, “fiscal disaster”, and my favorite, “severe economic downturn”, which is short for “Depression.” Now European and Asian markets are reacting to their perception that the crisis in America will have a severe negative impact on the rest of the world.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I would like to point out that the free market theories that have been the guiding light of the Republican party have brought us to this mess. Greed drives the free market. Greed without regulation leaves large institutions free to take bigger and bigger risks in order to maintain shareholder earnings. Those risks are not being regulated by the government. Sure, it costs to regulate big businesses and to regulate the risk taken by mortgage companies and investment banks, but the costs of failing to regulate them may include launching us into a “severe economic downturn”…..
Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down.
Blawgerman
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Interestingly enough I think your real fixation here is not on the economy but on The Carpenters. See knowing you has lead me to think there is more hidden just under the surface than most people see???????
Talking to myself and feeling old.
Sometimes I'd like to quit nothing everseems to fit. Hanging around nothing to do but frown, Rain days and Mondays always get me down....
Wow this past monday must have been a tough one for you rain(flooding)and a severe economic downturn all at the same time!!!!!!
Cheer up you never know 2012is not as far away as it may seem.
You are correct though we have yet to see bottom.
Post a Comment