[PregNut]

With the current crisis, I'm glad I don't have a 401(k).

[SwitcherX]

Quote:
DruulEmpire said:
Today is the first anniversary of the Dow's flukish high of 14164 -- it closed at 8579, some 5,585 points lower.

I'm in a reasonably masochistic mood.  I'm going to raise my floor from 6700 to 7227 -- that's roughly 51% of the 14164 high -- and see if that smashes.

The term "panic" seems too easy.  I'm going to call this the Crunch of '08.

Some stock traders i know are saying it might go down to around 7300.

[PregNut]

I heard GM stock is trading around $5/share. Should I buy now, or wait?

[mastert]

I would wait for the going out of business sale. All cars must go!

[DruulEmpire]

It's a 58-year low.  You may as well -- that is, if you believe in their future.

[Bonkers]

Why wait for GM for a deal, when you have Ford at two dollars a stock and dropping like lead  


Bonkers

[AZWolf]

<springsteen>  I'm going down, down, down, down, down...I'm going down, down DOWN, down... </springsteen>

I have 10 shares in the stock market.  So I say let it burn.  

[Hiram]

At these prices, I'm almost considering buying more shares.

They say, time to buy when others are selling.  But that is for the brave.

[AZWolf]

Not yet, but it will come.

I still want to hear more screams.  

[gOOber]

 

[MasterDragonfly]

We were listening to Leykis 101 on the drive home from class last night.

Instead of his usual bit, he had on some sort of financial guy (missed the beginning of the segment, so I couldn't tell you who) who shared the following tidbits:

- nobody knows what to do regarding whether you should keep your investments or sell off; that has to be something you need to decide for yourself

- foreign interests will be pulling investments out of the USA

- USA will be pulling investments out of foreign countries

- there's a very real chance of deflation which is apparently very difficult to shake loose from; the last time there was deflation, it only shook loose thanks to WW2

- this isn't something which we'll be able to pull out of in a matter of months; he threw out the figure that it could take 25 years

- if you're 60 or older, not a good time for you (retirement-wise)

- if you're in your early 20's, this should be a good opportunity for you (retirement-wise)

I don't know how many of the above nuggets sound like news to the folks here.  It was certainly sobering to me.

[pedonbio]

Quote:
MasterDragonfly said:


- nobody knows what to do regarding whether you should keep your investments or sell off; that has to be something you need to decide for yourself

MDF, the relevent part is the first five words. I would recommend volume 2 of Schlesinger's The Age of Roosevelt to see how FDR did it, back when trial and error was considered a good thing. Some things (TVA, CCC, unemployment insurance) worked; other things (AAA, NRA) didn't, or weren't allowed to by the Supreme Court. But the critically important thing to understand is that nobody knows what will work. Bush and Paulson were absolutely certain that throwing $700 billion down a rathole would make magic happen. The fact is that in these waters, they're both idiots and should be ignored.

Quote:

- foreign interests will be pulling investments out of the USA

- USA will be pulling investments out of foreign countries

Yeah, that happens every time. It's stupid, but it happens.

Quote:

- there's a very real chance of deflation which is apparently very difficult to shake loose from; the last time there was deflation, it only shook loose thanks to WW2

Yeah, that's very true. It was the only thing Milton Friedman and I could agree on after we'd both had a few drinks --Milton was much more moderate than I was-- and the only thing that really can be solved by throwing money at it. See, Milton was absolutely right about money supply theory. The problem is that to beat deflation, you have to do something very, very counterintuitive. It looks stupid when you're doing it (Oh, where will Bush be when we need his stupidity??), but it has to have a huge component of what appears to be wasted money. With FDR, it was gearing up the military industries (to supply England and Russia) which looked like a waste of resources to Americans, but it was the right jolt to the economy.

Quote:

- this isn't something which we'll be able to pull out of in a matter of months; he threw out the figure that it could take 25 years

Ummmm, I'd say eight years.

Quote:

- if you're 60 or older, not a good time for you (retirement-wise)

Babe, it's NEVER a good time to be over 60. I know.

Quote:

- if you're in your early 20's, this should be a good opportunity for you (retirement-wise)

Babe, it's NEVER a bad time to be in your early 20s.

But remember what Warren Buffet says: Starting a business is like sex: Don't save it up for your old age.

[notty]

I'm waiting for the market to bottom out, and then I'm going shopping.

[Hiram]

Quote:
notty said:
I'm waiting for the market to bottom out, and then I'm going shopping.

I'm thinking along the same lines - but when will we see the bottom?

[TheZookie007]

Two weeks and the Dow has dropped by 40%; I say now is as good a time to buy as any.

But what do I know?