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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Fasten your seat belts, folks
Posted by Jill | 7:33 AM
Isn't it funny how none of the Republican candidates are talking any more about private Social Security accounts, or about investing part of Social Security funds in the stock market?

In case anyone thought that yesterday's bloodbath in the overseas market was just a one-day blip, guess again:

Asian stocks came under relentless selling pressure for the second straight session on Tuesday, a day after fears the U.S. economy could slip into a recession triggered a sell-off that spread to Europe and Latin America.
India's Sensitive Index was the most volatile in the region and suffered the steepest intraday losses for the second straight session. The index, which finished 7.4% lower in the previous session, was recently down 8.9% at 16,040.13. At that level, the index has already lost around 16% from Friday's close.
Things were equally downbeat elsewhere.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average shed 5.7% to 12,573.05, while the broader Topix index skidded 5.7% to 1,219.95. Earlier in the day, the Nikkei dropped as low as 12,572.68 -- its lowest level since September 2005.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped 8.7% to end at 21,757.63, as the sell-off deepened from the previous session, when it tumbled 5.5%. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index plummeted even more, sinking 12% to 11,911.91. See related story.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 extended its loss-making run into the 12th straight session, ending down 7.1% at 5,186.80 and setting a 52-week closing low, while New Zealand's NZX 50 index took its losses into the 14th session, dropping 1.1% at 3,607.13. South Korea's Kospi shed 4.4% at 1,609.02.
China's Shanghai Composite, which fell more than 5% in the previous session, sank 7.2% to 4,559.75, its lowest close since August, and Taiwan's Weighted index tumbled 6.5% to 7,581.96, a 10-month low. Emerging markets page
Singapore's Straits Times index, which lost 6% in the previous session, dropped 4.9% to 2,773.36 and Indonesia's JSX Composite tumbled 9.4% to 2,252.49 by late afternoon.


I'm lucky enough to work in a place where my employer puts aside an amount equal to a percentage of my salary into my retirement account, and I'm putting a decent percentage of my income myself. Since the beginning of the year, every penny that has been put into my account has been lost, over and above about 2% of the account's value at the beginning of December. Right now, at age 52, I'm literally shoveling money into a black hole, where it's never to be seen again.

This is retirement savings? This is what's supposed to replace Social Security? This is what people are supposed to rely on?

Yesterday the U.S. markets were on a roll: they were closed. Today the bloodbath comes back home:

U.S. stocks may enter a bear market on Tuesday, with stock futures pointing to losses of roughly 4% after two days of huge selling in overseas markets on fears over a U.S. recession.
Though off session lows, futures were pointing to early pain: S&P 500 futures dropped 56.2 points to 1,269.10 and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 70.5 points to 1,779.00. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 478 points.


So fasten your seat belts and put your tray tables in the upright position. We're going to prepare the cabin for landing now, because we're anticipating a great deal of turbulence as we land.

In the swamp.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...
Have you had enough of petitions, rallies, and protests that have not worked? The Republican party and their conservative members appears insulated from the public and unresponsive to the public. However their contributors do not appear insulated from the public and can collapse under pressure to a withering telephone campaign threatening mass boycotts of their products until they get their friends at the GOP to do what we want.

Would you and your organization consider joining these telephone campaigns and spreading the word to your membership, and fellow progressive groups in your newsletter? I have created these campaigns to peacefully take back America. After you have made these phone calls please send me email to info@democratz.org with the subject CALLED.

I plan to bring this message to as many Democratic Clubs around the United States of America as I can.

Thank you.

http://www.democratz.org


Get as many people to make these 3 phone calls.

Call GOP contributor and war contractor General Electric Corporation at 800 386 1215 or 203 373 2211 and tell the person who answers, that you want the GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to get Bush to end the war in Iraq and then Bush resign with Cheney and until that happens you will not buy any GE products and that you will tell your friends about this.

Call GOP contributor Rite Aid Corporation at 1-800-325-3737 and tell the person to get the CEO to get the congress to enact HR 676 Single payer universal health care and repeal Medicare Part D and place the drug benefit in Medicare Part B covering 80% of drugs with no extra premiums, no extra deductibles, no means tests, no coverage gaps, and remove the means test for Medicare Part B and until that happens, you won't buy ANYTHING from Rite Aid Pharmacies and that you will tell your friends about this.

Call GOP contributor Wendy's restaurants at 614 764-3553 and Tell the person in public relations that you want their CEO to get the congress to help enact a $10/HR MIN. WAGE into law and until this happens you will not go to a Wendy's Restaurant and that you will tell your friends about this.




I set up a progressives forum for progressives and liberals only. Get as many progressives and liberals to join as you can.

http://progressives.aceboard.com

I do not seek donations. You can use the board for free.
1/22/08, 3:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I feel your pain, Jill. I stopped contributing to my 401K back in 2002 when the fund managed to lose my contributions, my employers matching contributions and then some.

Since I have a mortgage, I figured it made more sense to instead put any extra funds towards paying off my house faster. Every extra dollar I put towards the principle is essentially a guaranteed 5.375% return, compounded yearly, no matter what the stock market does. All I lose is the advantage of investing pretax dollars (which isn't much of an advantage when the fund loses it all anyway).
1/22/08, 11:19 PM  
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