Black Monday...

[cinyc]

If Obama can't take back the lead by the end of this week with this crap going on, it's kind of tough to see when he does it.

The debates will matter much more than this.

[Citizen James]

I think the people this matters most to have long since made up their minds.

Now if a number of companies get skittish at the troubles and start large scale layoffs that might have a serious effect on the election, otherwise I see a lot of media frenzy but not much voter shift.

In short, my magic 9-ball says 'no'.

[Cubby]

2 long time Wall Street companies have vanished over the weekend.

The Dow Futures were down 344 points last I checked, the most I have ever seen.

Alan Greenspan says we are in a "once-in-a-century" financial crisis.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080915/financial_meltdown.html

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That sounds like something out of the Great Depression. Its not very high unemployment this time (so far). I wonder if multiple large banks and firms collapsing can continue without there being huge effects on the economy. Are we going to see more bank runs, even though the money is guaranteed? We're in uncharted territory here.

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[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The economy really sucks, and I don't understand why McCain is still leading in the polls.

Because maybe Bush isn't 100% responsible for the faltering economy?

Your party has been in charge of the do-nothing congress for 2 years now, silly.

^^^

People here are vastly overestimating the influence the President has over the economy. The truth is it will rebound whether we elect Obama or McCain. And, the truth is that we aren't even in a recession. The economy grew 3.3% last quarter. Things are bad, but they aren't terrible. It always rebounds. The market will sort itself out.

Right, it's just a coincidence that there are more jobs, fewer recessions, and less debt under Democratic Presidents than Republican Presidents.

As for Congress, I would be a lot happier with them if they were a do-nothing Congress. Frankly, I don't see much difference between the 109th and 110th Congresses. Of course the Democratic control of the Senate is a total joke thanks to Lieberman, but you'd think Pelosi would at least act like a Democrat, let alone a San Francisco Democrat.

[Eraserhead]

If Obama can't take back the lead by the end of this week with this crap going on, it's kind of tough to see when he does it.

The debates will matter much more than this.

I don't see him dominating the debates though.

[exopolitician]

The pessimism lately has gotten annoying...just fyi. The fact hes only down two [and in some instances hes up...but whatever] and the debates haven't even occurred yet should be enough to say not to give up yet.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If Obama can't take back the lead by the end of this week with this crap going on, it's kind of tough to see when he does it.

The debates will matter much more than this.

I don't see him dominating the debates though.

True, we can't count on the debates to save Obama. Bush only lost ground because he did absolutely horrendously beyond terrible in the first debate, and he still won the election anyways. There's no reason to suspect that McCain will have a Bush style meltdown.

But anyways, as I've been saying, it's the economy, stupid.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Bush isn't even good for the rich investor class.

S&P 500 when he took office: 1342.54
S&P 500 at the bell on Friday: 1251.70

That's a drop of 6.8% over the entire 7 2/3 years so far of the Bush administration, and that number is bound to be a bit worse after this Black Monday.

[Eraserhead]

Are there already some media outlets calling this "Black Monday"?

[MODU]

Today will definitely be a down day.  Will it be 300 points or 150 points will be the big question.  On the other hand, how the market handles the issue the rest of the week can play a bigger roll.  The government allowed the market to handle these two institutions unlike in the past month.  Bank of America is buying one and the market will absorb the remains of the other, just as a free market economy does for any other entity.  What I am liking is that the other banking institutions have agreed to announce plans on how they are going to improve their bottom lines by becoming even more transparent and diversified.  This jolt to the sector is shaking out a lot of dead wood and allowing the sector to regrow.  Get your checkbooks ready to buy some stocks.

[Brittain33]

It's okay.. Sarah Palin had a childhood friend with an interest in rare coins.  The market will be saved. [/snark]

I'd LOL, but there are some people who'd defend that. Her friend has a bank account! What do you mean she's unqualified?

[ChrisFromNJ]

The DOW just took a huge fall from -100 to -270.

[MODU]

The DOW just took a huge fall from -100 to -270.

The futures were trading down 337 points, so that wasn't unexpected.

[J. J.]

It's actually looking at better outside of the DJIA, though I'm glad I only have $200 in Sovereign.

[MODU]

Lehman Brothers has dropped to 30 cents/share while Merrill Lynch is up $4.33/share.  This is the way the market is suppose to work.

[ChrisFromNJ]

The DOW is only down -180 right now. The market seems to be recovering nicely, on the back of a better than expected showing for Merrill Lynch's stock. 

[Cubby]

Down 247 now, which is more than 100 points better than the futures were last night. So its bad, but not as bad as I thought.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Listen, Duke & Duke totally collapsed back in 1983 when Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy received an advance copy of the orange crop report.  If Wall Street could survive that, it can survive this.

[MODU]

Listen, Duke & Duke totally collapsed back in 1983 when Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy received an advance copy of the orange crop report.  If Wall Street could survive that, it can survive this.

HAHAHA

[J. J.]

Listen, Duke & Duke totally collapsed back in 1983 when Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy received an advance copy of the orange crop report.  If Wall Street could survive that, it can survive this.

Just watched it yesterday, use to work in the area (Viv worked in the coffee shop in the Rittenhouse Park scene) and was across the street from Duke and Duke Saturday for dinner with Sissy.

[ChrisFromNJ]

The Dow is now down -315 as of noon.

[Eraserhead]

The Dow is now down -315 as of noon.

That's not too good...

[Democratic Hawk]

I'm always skeptical of these doomsday Sunday scenarios. Let's wait and see what happens when the markets open tommorrow morning. I doubt it will be as bad as everybody makes it out to be, but make no mistake, we are in deep doo doo right now.

Noo... we're fine.  We just need to stop whining!  And let's throw in another tax cut for the rich while we're at it.

You got it my man. Trickle down economics works far better than that demand side crap, as proven by past track record.

I thought tax cuts skewed in favor of the wealthy were supposed to be some great panacea to economic ills? I wouldn't have thought it given the Republican record, overall, compared with that of Democratic administrations is poor when it comes to economic growth, rising prosperity (even the richest fare better in % terms under Democrats) and job creation

The economy really sucks, and I don't understand why McCain is still leading in the polls.

Because maybe Bush isn't 100% responsible for the faltering economy?

Your party has been in charge of the do-nothing congress for 2 years now, silly.

^^^

People here are vastly overestimating the influence the President has over the economy. The truth is it will rebound whether we elect Obama or McCain. And, the truth is that we aren't even in a recession. The economy grew 3.3% last quarter. Things are bad, but they aren't terrible. It always rebounds. The market will sort itself out.

Right, it's just a coincidence that there are more jobs, fewer recessions, and less debt under Democratic Presidents than Republican Presidents.

It's gotta be more than just coincidence

Dave

[Nym90]

I'm always skeptical of these doomsday Sunday scenarios. Let's wait and see what happens when the markets open tommorrow morning. I doubt it will be as bad as everybody makes it out to be, but make no mistake, we are in deep doo doo right now.

Noo... we're fine.  We just need to stop whining!  And let's throw in another tax cut for the rich while we're at it.

You got it my man. Trickle down economics works far better than that demand side crap, as proven by past track record.

I thought tax cuts skewed in favor of the wealthy were supposed to be some great panacea to economic ills? I wouldn't have thought it given the Republican record, overall, compared with that of Democratic administrations is poor when it comes to economic growth, rising prosperity (even the richest fare better in % terms under Democrats) and job creation

The economy really sucks, and I don't understand why McCain is still leading in the polls.

Because maybe Bush isn't 100% responsible for the faltering economy?

Your party has been in charge of the do-nothing congress for 2 years now, silly.

^^^

People here are vastly overestimating the influence the President has over the economy. The truth is it will rebound whether we elect Obama or McCain. And, the truth is that we aren't even in a recession. The economy grew 3.3% last quarter. Things are bad, but they aren't terrible. It always rebounds. The market will sort itself out.

Right, it's just a coincidence that there are more jobs, fewer recessions, and less debt under Democratic Presidents than Republican Presidents.

It's gotta be more than just coincidence

Dave

My statement was intended as sarcasm.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The Dow is now down -315 as of noon.

That's not too good...

Before we get too chicken little, that wouldn't even classify as the biggest one-day drop this month.