How strange, Wall Street collapses off camera, no ticker tape, nobody jumping out of offices.

[CK_John]

A large portion of pension funds are written off the books. Last week the government took ownership of 50% of the homes in the US, this week they wiped out 25% of most pensions funds and nothing on TV.

Nobody knows and the few that do say it's all about risk/reward and the market will bounce back.

Wake up people, until we start building 300mph rail lines, replacing every bridge over 40yrs old, building walk to work communities and start building things again, we cannot sustain an economy based on selling paper from one company to another.

We need to forget the eye candy and distractions and replace this government.

Our party needs to get out front of this disaster and start making some concrete policies pronouncements and quit playing it safe.

[Kittycat]

1. Do you have links?

That show the magnitude of that? The 50% of homes & 25% of pensions gone? I've read about the homes, but didn't realize it was that much - and I was unaware of the extent of pensions lost. I'd love to read that information, and share it with some people on the fence about the election right now.

[CK_John]

11. The mortgage base of the Fannie's of 50% is accepted in most financial circles,

but the value of shares that were wiped out (pension funds were major shareholders) will not be known for a while. Since these funds were rated as low risk, we will have to wait for state, city and teacher funds to start issuing reports. Were I read the 25% estimate was in a bloomberg article some time ago.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. With links or sites for your stats your thread would make for good talking points.

[napi21]

3. UH OH. Wait till tomorrow! I'm anticipating them halting trading.

Of courst I'm no more of a financial expert than my dog, so we'll see.

[1corona4u]

7. I think it's very possible they could halt trading....

[OmahaBlueDog]

16. Nope

Value will drop through the morning. About 1PM, foreign capital will start diving in and buying up bargains. It's the combined blessing and curse of computerized trading -- you can stampede the market in either direction in a hurry, but increasingly, the programs tend to mitigate against daily drops over 3%.

[TexasObserver]

4. but ... but ... LIPSTICK!!

[DJ13]

5. Oh come on

Pigs and lipstick are such IMPORTANT subjects!

[no_hypocrisy]

6. I'm watching local news in NYC and it's 11:14 and no story yet about the bank failures.

[Peacetrain]

8. Can you imagine where we would be if Bush had had his way

to privatize social security

[Bread and Circus]

9. I'm reading American Theocracy and it talks about 3 fundamental things

that are wrong and catastrophic for the U.S.

1.) An economy built on oil that is seeing dwindling supply and increase worldwide demand along w/ decreased manufacturing at home.
2.) A rise of fundamentalism with the goal of creating a theocracy.
3.) Financialization (overborrowing) of our economy.

I think we are seeing the beginnings of a crash if we don't really get serious and start paying attention. The free ride for the money changers might be coming to a screeching halt.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

15. That's a great book

Kevin Phillips is right up there with Thom Hartmann at connecting the dots the corporate overlords do not want people to understand.

The American Empire is just about to fall into the swamp of history. We either retrench, re-regulate, rebuild our infrastructure and energy sector, and, most importantly, abandon the insane dreams of global dominance or there will be no country within another generation or so.

[Tansy_Gold]

10. You should all be reading DU's daily Stock Market Watch thread

on the LBN page and the Week-end Economic Update in the Editorials forum.

[shugah]

12. well, if they're not jumping out of windows yet

:shrug:

[Nikki Stone1]

13. Amen.

:kick: and recommend.

[DefenseLawyer]

14. Blue horse shoe loves anacot steel n/t

[AndyTiedye]

17. Modern Wall Street Office Buildings Feature Windows That Do Not Open For a Reason

[tech3149]

18. very good point!

You don't want those poor working people to have to work an extra hour or two to clean up the slime on the sidewalk.