Last week was a low for many. One of my friends got her wallet stolen at Borders (I know, how blatant is that?), many lost of lot of money in the markets and many more just feels blue for no particular reason. Even steak and chocolate failed to bring our spirits back up. Maybe it is because there hasn’t been any new TV shows out in a long time (where is Gossip Girl?) and they keep cutting the good shows (Lipstick Jungle, Dirty Sexy Money… and I hear that they might be cutting Privileged too!). Maybe it’s just that time of the year where everyone has the winter blues, because we have passed the holiday high, and there is still quite a bit to go before Spring. Or maybe it is everyone’s favourite excuse for feeling blue- the recession.
The market reached new lows since November last week. At the beginning there didn’t even seem to be any particular reason (very similar to how everyone just somehow felt blue). There was slight controversy when Berkshire’s portfolio was reported and it looked like Buffet had been selling America instead of buying it as he said he was doing. But I stand by that the argument that he sold J&J etc in order to raise funds for his GE and GS deal, which were obviously more lucrative (opportunity cost and all that). GM and Chrysler asked the government for more money again to survive. They should really just let them die. We will still need American banks in 20 years, but we can always buy Asian and European cars. There was also rumors that Citi (followed closely by BofA) was going to be nationalized this weekend, which didn’t seem like such an impossibility when Citi stock dropped below $2. As a result, all bank stocks plummeted like crazy Thursday and Friday morning (I watched Wells Fargo dropped from $12 to $9 in a few hours- seriously scary stuff!), until the government announced that they were all for the private bank structure and said that they were not looking to nationalize any banks this weekend. Since it would look pretty bad if the government DID nationalize Citi this weekend after that announcement, the market went back up a bit. Ironically, today (Sunday) there are rumors that Citi is pressing the government for another capital injection to increase their stake to up to 40% (or anywhere below 50%)- just short of a nationalization. Asia seems happy with this though and has rallied thus far.
This has probably all contributed to my winter blues (and consequently my writer’s block and thus my infrequent updates and completely random post about dying flowers). But one can only go up after reaching new lows right? Hopefully this will be a better week 🙂
Tea with BG 
Polly said:
Oh 😦
That’s really sad!
Do you live in England or the US?
Because if you live in England Desperate Housewives returns this week!
xx
Knikki said:
The market is based on confidence not the actual condition of the economy. If it was we’d all be doomed. But lets say Obama comes out with a plan to keep businesses in business by cutting taxes and creating incentives for them to hire more people. The market would then go up because people have confidence in his plan.
It’s a proven fact that when the government gets involved in tampering with the market things go south. What started the economic crisis was the subprime mortagage problem. Banks were forced to give loans to people that couldn’t pay them back so they could have houses. This started under Clinton in the 90s.
What this caused was a liquidity crisis. People are not able to get the loans that they need. If you know anything about running a business you have to make payroll and often times you have to take out loans from the bank to do that during your cold months. Then in December you triple and sometimes quadruple what you made the rest of the year so you can pay back what you borrowed. But businesses aren’t able to get loans so they lay off people and cut back production.
The problem that we’re facing now is other countries buying our banks and companies that control our national defense. In other words, the US is rotting from within and being controlled by outside sources.
It’s tough out there. I’m with you, though. I’m sick and tired of hearing about all the doom and gloom. I’m boycotting the recession and not taking part in it.
Unmei said:
Many of my friends as well as myself have been negatively effected by the “economic crisis.” We’ve all been handling things a little differently while we try and fight the encroaching hopelessness of finding a new job, nevermind one that pays a decent salary.
I wake up every morning trying to rally (and spend all day trying to rally) myself to Carpe Diem! Although the the current state of economy is frightening, I think it is important to pay attention to qualities within ourselves and how we relate to people and look for lasting lessons- especially as a part of a younger generation.
I’ve been able to take risks I wouldn’t have dreamed of had I been employed. I am also rediscovering parts of myself that have been pushed aside as I entered the world of adulthood and corporate career life.
It is important to accept things as they are, learn some lessons, and do what we can to keep ourselves from getting too down about things we can’t control. In the end, if we take the time to learn from what is happening now, when things get better our lessons will only help us.
Down Comforter said:
I’ve been right there with ya – so sick of winter & am needing something to lift my spirits. You’re not alone 🙂