financial turmoil
Sep. 22nd, 2008 12:22 pmSome quick things about the current financial crisis:
1. It is irresponsible to tell people to get their money out of the banks. This is how bad things happen. Most of the institutions collapsing are very different from the sorts of banks you keep your checking and savings accounts in. I strongly suggest you go to http://www.myfdicinsurance.gov to get a better understanding of if and how your assets are covered by the FDIC. If you don't know, chances are they are. Simply because this implies you have simple assets in relatively small amounts.
2. If you are truly concerned about your money in the bank, even if it is covered by the FDIC, I strongly suggest not removing it but opening a secondary account at a credit union or one of the banks that is currently relatively well-capitalized (Bank of America, Bank of New York, and, I can't believe I'm saying this, Citibank). Split your funds between the two accounts, and when you decide which place as better customer service and you feel more confident, consolidate your funds back to one account. But taking your money out of the banking system entirely is not a good idea and not necessary.
3. While we're all sitting around saying "HOLY SHIT," "700 BILLION," and "THAT'S JUST TO START," it would behoove you to actually look at the current bailout plan (via several people on my friendslist, most recently
jonquil who gets the credit since this is when I've finally had time to write this).
There is, in my opinion a massive problem with it, and that's that it's completely subject to no oversight or examination in the future. I don't know about you, but not being able to call the crooks and liars who made this mess and are now being charged with cleaning it up on their actions in the process is pretty goddamn appalling to me. I suspect they think they can get away with this because a) we're all in shock and b) there are some pretty complex issues involved here.
HOWEVER, you should learn more and lodge your comments as regards the clause that says: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." House and Senate contacts are available here (via
jonquil): http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml . If anyone has any links specific to how to lodge complaints on the bail-out bill, please let me know.
4. I have a hard time imagining that any of you are voting for John McCain and at some point I will write an angry and uncomfortable screed about the state of things between you and I if you are. But let's overlook for that for a moment so I can make a note to you about the economic folly of considering John McCain for president in the current climate.
John McCain has stated he doesn't know much about the economy. He had threatened to fire major financial officials who do not, in fact, serve at the pleasure of the president (further demonstrating his ignorance), and, let us not forget, he was one of the Keating Five, who got us into our last major financial mess, back in the bad ol' S&L days.
This current situation is about 800 times worse and is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event (I say that as someone with living family members who recall the Great Depression and agree with me). In a time of legitimately frightening economic events, John McCain is not, in fact, qualified to be our president.
1. It is irresponsible to tell people to get their money out of the banks. This is how bad things happen. Most of the institutions collapsing are very different from the sorts of banks you keep your checking and savings accounts in. I strongly suggest you go to http://www.myfdicinsurance.gov to get a better understanding of if and how your assets are covered by the FDIC. If you don't know, chances are they are. Simply because this implies you have simple assets in relatively small amounts.
2. If you are truly concerned about your money in the bank, even if it is covered by the FDIC, I strongly suggest not removing it but opening a secondary account at a credit union or one of the banks that is currently relatively well-capitalized (Bank of America, Bank of New York, and, I can't believe I'm saying this, Citibank). Split your funds between the two accounts, and when you decide which place as better customer service and you feel more confident, consolidate your funds back to one account. But taking your money out of the banking system entirely is not a good idea and not necessary.
3. While we're all sitting around saying "HOLY SHIT," "700 BILLION," and "THAT'S JUST TO START," it would behoove you to actually look at the current bailout plan (via several people on my friendslist, most recently
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
There is, in my opinion a massive problem with it, and that's that it's completely subject to no oversight or examination in the future. I don't know about you, but not being able to call the crooks and liars who made this mess and are now being charged with cleaning it up on their actions in the process is pretty goddamn appalling to me. I suspect they think they can get away with this because a) we're all in shock and b) there are some pretty complex issues involved here.
HOWEVER, you should learn more and lodge your comments as regards the clause that says: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." House and Senate contacts are available here (via
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
4. I have a hard time imagining that any of you are voting for John McCain and at some point I will write an angry and uncomfortable screed about the state of things between you and I if you are. But let's overlook for that for a moment so I can make a note to you about the economic folly of considering John McCain for president in the current climate.
John McCain has stated he doesn't know much about the economy. He had threatened to fire major financial officials who do not, in fact, serve at the pleasure of the president (further demonstrating his ignorance), and, let us not forget, he was one of the Keating Five, who got us into our last major financial mess, back in the bad ol' S&L days.
This current situation is about 800 times worse and is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event (I say that as someone with living family members who recall the Great Depression and agree with me). In a time of legitimately frightening economic events, John McCain is not, in fact, qualified to be our president.