And was Tuesday the first loss of footing down the mountain?

In 1987, when the Asian markets threatened to spread their flu to America, Greenspan monetized everything he could to pump liquidity and price support back into a freaked out market. This time, if Bernanke is going to try the same rescue, the currency markets are ready for him, and either the dollar goes or the markets go. One must take a beating for the other to live.

I would like to point out that because of the Bush war maniacs, there is much less sympathy for America's financial house of cards than there was 20 years ago. There are people and governments around the world who think that America needs to be taught a lesson, and we may not have the IOU's to call in that we think. We have been warning for seven years that Bush left unchecked will fatten up the economy for slaughter to benefit his friends.

He is evil. Not bad, but evil. He comes from an evil stock of evil killers.

In 1987 on black Monday the U.S. markets lost 22.68% of its value. Today's drop is roughly 3.5%. How can you compare the two?

Dude, why was the first sentence out of my mouth "Is this the first loss of footing?" Because I knew it wasn't an equal percentage drop, but I also knew that this might not be over. Sometimes a crisis in confidence is more gradual- in many ways, that could be more painful for the average stockholder, because they will see small drops and think 'well, should I get out or shouldn't I?'

When the downed the employment number on employment they also went back and retroactively downed the numbers for the last 3 months. These figures did not include the layoffs of this month.

There is no guarantee that if the rates are lowered that housing sales will go up. That lenders will give loans that can make up for the collapse of the housing market. That other types of lending like remortgages will not begin to track down also. How are banks going to do what Bush asks and renegotiate for fifty cents on the dollar lent to keep the bottom from falling out. FHA back up loans only go up to 250K cant get a closet for that.

As the bulk of the population moves out of the housing market there can only be dropping prices although inflation may disguise that fact in the short term.

FHA back up loans only go up to 250K cant get a closet for that.

There is a bill in congress that will raise the limits of FHA loans to match those of fannie mae and freddie mac- $417,000. The bill has been stalled for a while, but the recent turmoil and presidential attention should fast track it.

The Economist, July 22, 2008:

the economist 7-22-08 wrote:Only six months ago, politicians were counting on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the country’s mortgage giants, to bolster the housing market by buying more mortgages. Now the rescuers themselves have needed rescuing.

The absurdity of this situation was highlighted by the way the discount window works. The Fed does not just accept any old assets as collateral; it wants assets that are “safe”. As well as Treasury bonds, it is willing to accept paper issued by “government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs). But the two most prominent GSEs are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In theory, therefore, the two companies could issue their own debt and exchange it for loans from the government—the equivalent of having access to the printing press.…

In the end, the turtle at the bottom of the pile is the American taxpayer. But that suggests that, if Americans are losing money on their houses, pensions or bank accounts, the right answer is to tax them to pay for it. Perhaps it is no surprise that traders in the credit-default swaps market have recently made bets on the unthinkable: that America may default on its debt.

http://www.economist.com/finance/displa ... d=11751139