In for a Crazy Ride

All I can say is wow! What a day for the stock market. I can't say I know much about the economy but enough to know we are in some deep doo doo. I had a conversation with my husband a few nights ago and he helped me understand the magnitude of what is going on. At first I was thinking well why should we bail these companies out of their problems. I mean they dug there hole and now it is time to go lay in their mess. I still feel that way to a point. I mean its hard not to blame the mortgage companies for being stupid enough to lend people money who really didn't have the means to pay them back. They made loans way to easy. Then on the other hand you blame the people who took the loans. I mean they should have known they couldn't afford the house. They should have known based on there budget what they could really handle. Its easy to point the finger. Then you think well good let them fail and let the pieces fall where they may. At this point though it just isn't that simple. You can't get around the fact that we are all in this boat together. Some may be affected more than others. Eventually though we will all be affected. This country runs on credit. Businesses run on credit. Businesses must loan money from a bank to buy goods to supply the product to paying customers. If they can't borrow money then you have layoffs people not getting paid and possibly the business failing all together because they can't get loans to run it. Banks will be less apt to loan money to anyone and this tightens the market. More people out of work and over time companies failing and more people out of work. The people out of work will most likely not find jobs due to companies not hiring and laying people off. That is a very simplified version. It is way more complex than that. Thing is you can see how it isn't just about the mortgage companies, the foreclosures, or wall street. If you care to look at the big picture it gets ugly. Think about the people who are about to retire. Well if things continue the way they did on wall street grandma may have to work a lot longer. Hope you weren't planning on making any major purchases counting on a loan ie house, car, child's college tuition, opening a small business. I am almost certain you were going to pay cash for that right? The world is involved in this mess too. The global market depends on the U.S. we are the backbone if we suffer everyone goes down with us. So I am concerned and yes I will probably be fine. Thing is you can't help but hold your breath at the consequences if something drastic isn't done soon. At this point alot of it is speculation as to just how bad we may fall however what we saw today is enough to make me sick. May God be with us on this uncertain ride and I pray we recover sooner than later.