Monday, September 29, 2008

Congress rejects bailout; Worst DJIA point drop ever!

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777.68 points today, mostly due to the House of Representatives rejecting the bailout:
Stocks skidded Monday afternoon, with the Dow's nearly 778-point drop being the worst single-day point loss ever, after the House rejected the government's $700 billion bank bailout plan.

Stocks tumbled ahead of the vote and the selling accelerated on fears that Congress would not be able come up with a fix for nearly frozen credit markets. The frozen markets mean banks are hoarding cash, making it difficult for businesses and individuals to get much-needed loans.

According to preliminary tallies, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 777.68, surpassing the 684.81 loss on Sept. 17, 2001 - the first trading day after the September 11 attacks. However the 7% decline does not rank among the top 10 percentage declines.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 8.7% and the Nasdaq composite 9.1%.

8 comments:

  1. Frankly, I think this is "tough love". The banks will figure out a way out of their problems and we'll all be better off than if we'd paid the bill for their mistakes. Helping homeowners who were deemed qualified at the time they took out their loans is one thing, but helping out businesses due to their own bad decision making is another matter.

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  2. Since you have absolutely zero credibility to speak about economics, please don't attempt to.

    They likely will still end up passing some POS bailout, though their constituents are overwhelmingly against it and the calls and letters opposing it are pouring in.

    That is why almost as many Dems as Reps voted no.

    Anyone who votes for a bailout will be targeted in their next re-elect - the TV ads, "he/she sent billions of your money to Wall Street to buy a banker another Ferrari."

    Whatever they pass will do nothing to stop the correction/prop up inflated home prices, but it will cost us all a ton of money

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  3. Hey Anonymous. Why don't you put a sock in it if you don't have the guts to identify yourself.

    If they pass something that calls for purchasing of mortgage bonds they will be out of work in 30 days. Congressment get paid depression or not. :)

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  4. Early this morning—September 29th 2008—the papers reported that the 110-page bill goes to the House of Representatives for vote. Later on in the morning the House said NO to the massive bailout dollars.

    When the $700b ‘solution’ was initially suggested my first impression was irritation, rage and annoyance. But in the past week or so, reading and talking about it, my feelings were somewhat reversed and I mellowed and simmered down. I came to the conclusion that this actually could lubricate the financial wheels and stimulate the economy. True, at the taxpayers’ expense, but has anyone a better suggestion without hurting our pocketbooks too much? The damage is done and there is no way back into history to put it right, but at least this will buy the bad mortgages held by many financial institutions and sold, hopefully, for a profit, at the same time allowing the institutions to start over healthier and wiser than before, and also, hopefully under the scrutinizing eyes of the feds. This is an exceptional situation that needs immediate attention and it should be on everyone’s priority list. I am not a Bush supporter, but I must admit, this bailout is a calculated risk and sounds logical.

    Another alternative to this bailout may be: instead of taxpayers paying into it, what about Uncle Sam paying the taxpayers in the form of some reduced taxes? What I mean is to relieve us of some taxes, such as capital gain when we sell our homes; an incentive for the seller—I don’t know, just a thought.

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  5. Gary, please try to post something coherent next time.

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  6. Anonymous said...
    "Since you have absolutely zero credibility to speak about economics, please don't attempt to."

    Who is that directed towards, Lance or me? If it's directed toward me, all I did was quote a news story. And yes, I do know quite a bit about economics—and I've known about the housing bubble since the beginning. If your comment is directed toward Lance, let me point out that you didn't disprove any part of his comment. All you did was hurl an insult, without the guts to identify yourself.

    Gary Anderson said...
    "Hey Anonymous. Why don't you put a sock in it if you don't have the guts to identify yourself."

    Thanks, Gary.

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  7. bail us out of china!!!!

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  8. bail us out of our almost total dependence on foreign goods!!

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