More seriously, I'm finding this whole interplay between the government and the financial sector completely fascinating. Terrifying and confusing, and painfully abstract, but fascinating.
I find myself wondering a little bit about things like Roth IRAs, which have statistically always appreciated. It's like I can hear a million financial advisers panicking. It kind of makes me want to invest more, just to see what'll happen.
Heh. I mean it's so designed to a) elicit confessions of "sins" and b) stir drama by making people be offended by what other people don't care about (do you vote for good writing or politics?). I actually really may wind up writing about fanfiction and how I don't engage in online debates on its worth as a category of thing because I just find it dreary, even though I will pontificate about it whenever I'm given the chance on panels. It's just gross on the Internet. But there's been a recent kerfluffle about it, and considering I'm a fan writer and a pro writer and also the writer of unauthorized tie-in material for money, I really should give more of a shit than I do.
Mostly though I'm waiting for Kali to send me Jack/Rose/Nine porn so we can get that done (the CERN piece is just hanging out waiting for it).
I'm thinking about writing about my so-called "lack of self-preservation skills" with regard to other people and the way I express myself. I'm terrible at style shifting, and sort of expect people to deal with the way I express myself (let's just put all of that earnestness and wit and subversion in a blender, shall we?) rather than conforming to appropriate norms. If nothing else, it's an excuse to talk about why I love(d) David Foster Wallace.
(Oh, and I've almost got #23 done. I'm so confused.)
Aw, what's a measly seven percent to the Dow (down 778 points as I write this)? On Black Monday, 1987, it lost almost 23%. I remember that day well, for I was to bowl in a league that night with a bunch of middle-aged men who stumbled, shell-shocked, into the bowling alley wondering where a fifth of their retirement portfolios just went.
CNN currently has a list of the ten largest daily percentage drops in the Dow. Black Monday was no. 2, and nearly twice the largest single-day fall during the 1929 stock market crash (though the span of October 28-November 6, 1929 contains three days in the top ten losses). Today's 7% drop didn't make the top ten; nor did the first trading day after 9/11, which was slightly worse.
My stomach's got that free-fall feeling until Congress hammers something out. The only good thing—and it really isn't saying much—is that percentage losses work on a logarithmic scale. If the market loses 10% on two consecutive days, the total drop is only 19%, since the second loss is 10% of 90%.
On the bright side, maybe those 8 or 9 Americans who have been squirreling away $$ can finally buy property in the steeper markets now. (like in your city!)
Yeah, I was just explaining to a coworker how this is good for you in the long term if you're middle-class, not currently a home owner and don't work in the financial sector or any sector that services or entertains the financial sector. Which is like 5 people in NYC, but still.
From my chirpy young-investor perspective, it looks an awful lot like the entire stock market is ON SALE. This is probably unfeeling of me, but as I don't expect the entire system to actually collapse, I think I'm in an awfully good spot.
You got it! That's how I am able to afford a house right now. I feel bad profiting from other people's misery, but one must seize the opportunity when it comes.
As a homeowner in the Cleveland area, I'm already accustomed to watching property values plunge. Fortunately, we have no other debt, and we bought considerably cheaper than we could have (and far cheaper than we could have if we'd felt even the slightest inclination toward one of those evil ARMs).
and it's working on 800. Time to "pull in yer horns" as my dad says. The thing I wonder about is, if you've got any kind of investment, typically this is NOT the time to be jumping out of it if you don't have to. Rather, it is the time to be looking at buying.
However...I'm fairly certain we haven't seen the bottom yet, and to compound the problem if ya do jump out, how much is cash going to be worth? We went completely off the gold standard under Nixon, and our currency isn't based on anything concrete anymore. Germany had this problem during the Great Depression where their currency became effectively worthless, and it took great wodges of cash just for a loaf of bread.
And it's to the point that I don't know whether it is better to let things fail without a government bailout, making things presumably easier to fix after the rubble of collapse, or if the bailout will actually help solve any problems rather than band-aid our current situation.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:04 pm (UTC)More seriously, I'm finding this whole interplay between the government and the financial sector completely fascinating. Terrifying and confusing, and painfully abstract, but fascinating.
I find myself wondering a little bit about things like Roth IRAs, which have statistically always appreciated. It's like I can hear a million financial advisers panicking. It kind of makes me want to invest more, just to see what'll happen.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:06 pm (UTC)Final close was down about 592. When that's good news, we're so fucked.
Also, do you hate the new LJ Idol topic as much as I do?
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:08 pm (UTC)I mean, I've got some ideas about what to write, but I'm having trouble caring...
*ba-dump bump*
I'll be here all week. Tip your waitresses.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:11 pm (UTC)Mostly though I'm waiting for Kali to send me Jack/Rose/Nine porn so we can get that done (the CERN piece is just hanging out waiting for it).
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:16 pm (UTC)I'm thinking about writing about my so-called "lack of self-preservation skills" with regard to other people and the way I express myself. I'm terrible at style shifting, and sort of expect people to deal with the way I express myself (let's just put all of that earnestness and wit and subversion in a blender, shall we?) rather than conforming to appropriate norms. If nothing else, it's an excuse to talk about why I love(d) David Foster Wallace.
(Oh, and I've almost got #23 done. I'm so confused.)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:15 pm (UTC)That's why I decided to approach it from a different angle.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:25 pm (UTC):: ducking ::
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 09:45 pm (UTC)What this means for our future, I don't know, but America's economic pretend-primacy is clearly over.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 09:52 pm (UTC)On the bright side, maybe those 8 or 9 Americans who have been squirreling away $$ can finally buy property in the steeper markets now. (like in your city!)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 10:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 09:48 pm (UTC)However...I'm fairly certain we haven't seen the bottom yet, and to compound the problem if ya do jump out, how much is cash going to be worth? We went completely off the gold standard under Nixon, and our currency isn't based on anything concrete anymore. Germany had this problem during the Great Depression where their currency became effectively worthless, and it took great wodges of cash just for a loaf of bread.
And it's to the point that I don't know whether it is better to let things fail without a government bailout, making things presumably easier to fix after the rubble of collapse, or if the bailout will actually help solve any problems rather than band-aid our current situation.