The Great Depression

[kass_rants]

Okay. Listen up! I don't care what the media has been screaming about. This is NOT another Great Depression. I'm going to explain to you why.

Kass's Top Three Reasons Why This is Not Another Great DepressionThe Great Depression began with the crash of the stock market in October 1929 (the crashes are always in October...). Many investors

Comments

[bantiarna]

Again, Bravo!
We are a one income comission based household and that comission has all but dried up. Christmas has to go on the Credit cards this year and use the tax return to pay it off. That is now what we wanted to do with the tax return this year but its better than nothing.

By Jove, I think She's Got It!

[kass_rants]

Precisely! It's not ideal to buy on credit. But the only thing that will make those commissions come back is to help drive to economy forward. People need to not fear. Fear will destroy us all.

Bob was a car salesman for two years, so I completely understand where you're coming from. Good luck!

Re: By Jove, I think She's Got It!

[bantiarna]

Yup, my husband is in AutoService at a dealership . . .

Now, can you explain to me (and I am not being sarcastic) why gas prices shoot up hand in hand with the price per barrel but do not fall when the price per barrel comes down? That is one I really do not get. If gas fell to under $88 a barrel, why did I have to pay 3.55 to fill up yesterday?

Re: By Jove, I think She's Got It!

[kass_rants]

Well, the commodities market is not my forte, but I'll try to explain.

The price of gasoline did not fall. The price of Brent Crude (UK) and Texas Light Sweet Crude dropped on the commodities market. That means that the price buyers are willing to pay for those raw materials are down. The price of gasoline takes into account a lot of things, the biggest one being the cost of turning Light Sweet Crude into gasoline. And in a shakey economy, oil processors may have raised their prices to ensure that they'll have the cashflow to stay in business through this shake-up

[kass_rants]

It's a wonderful time! Good choice.

[lord_skorri]

Talk radio, you mean NPR or Rush and Glenn Beck ? :) Tell Bob we need a cheerful showtune !

[kass_rants]

A cheerful showtune and a barrel of homebrewed ale! I keep him around for a reason. =)

(By "talk radio" I really mean anyone but the BBC who seemingly is the only news outlet who's not waving their hands over their heads and panicking. I mean, on BBC World Service yesterday, they actually explained the Commercial Paper market -- the sector of "Wall Street" I used to work in!)

[kraehe]

Gee, thanks for the lack of confidence, hon! (says the NPR employee)

I think our Planet Money podcast is doing a damned good job of explaining things. They even broke a big story about the bill passed last Friday.

And yes, they are interviewing experts who are telling people not to pull all of their money out of the market and keep it in their mattress.

That said, I have to note here that the American economy has been fueled by debt, not real wage increases, for the past, oh, two decades, but particularly since 2000. We have to learn to live within our means. (But no, we shouldn't panic and stop spending, either.)

[kass_rants]

So if NPR isn't running around waving their hands over their heads and screaming, "The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!" what precisely makes you think I'm talking about them?

[isenglass]

I have one correction. National banks are always FDIC insured. However, State Banks are not required to have FDIC insurance. They are regulated by an entirely different body.

With that said, some State banks do have FDIC insurance. If they do, they will have copious signage to that effect because it's a big deal.

In my opinion, it is not a good idea to keep your money in an uninsured State bank.

- K. Moyer, Analyst, Old Point National Bank

[kass_rants]

Thanks, K. I'd forgetten that. I'd never have even a checking account at an unisured State bank...

[lady_guenievre]

I know Credit Unions have insurance through a different body as well - is that body as reliable as FDIC insurance?

[kass_rants]

You'd have to look that up. I know nothing about it. But if it is a Federal insurance, it is reliable. The Federal government has never defaulted on a debt.

[katequicksilvr]

Good advice, Miss Kass! And an informative post, thank you.

I know many, many people who are convinced the sky is falling--that's one of my favorite analogies.

(I gotta agree about the talk radio. And most national and local media. Brrrr. If it's not dramatic and "newsworthy"--read panic--they don't really seem to want to cover it.)

[kass_rants]

There is this breakfast nook we go to some mornings. They put in a TV and it's always on the local morning show, and I hate it. It ruins my mornings. Their news coverage is like watching something on E! It's all sensationalistic and crappy.

I stopped watching the American news when I was in the Miami airport and CNN was covering Anna Nicole Smith's autopsy. A little ticker ran under the picture that announced that Ian Paisley and Marty McGuinness came to an agreement to end the troubles in Northern Ireland and were actually signing a power sharing agreement with Bertie Ahearn and Tony Blair that day. That was Earth-shattering International news. The END OF THE TROUBLES!

But no. What killed a drug-addicted bimbo was much more newsworthy... :/

[katequicksilvr]

I turned off the TV after my late husband died--I prefer to get my news from a less inflammatory source. (Ironic since a million years ago I worked in TV news--back when they had some class and restraint.) I also get a lot more done than I used to when the TV sang its siren song...

Most media news, political and otherwise--along with most talk radio--makes me tense or angry or depressed.

And OMG. That's pretty sad about the CNN report. Amazing...

[heidilea]

A while ago, I was watching Jay Leno with my parents. It was during the whole Paris-Hilton-goes-to-jail nonsense, and he replayed a clip from CNN. The footage was an aerial of the Hilton's mansion, and they were anxiously waiting for her to come out of the house. Then, for 9 seconds, they aired that some major guy in the Defense Department was resigning, but they would get to that later, "after Paris comes out..." It was unbelievable. Leno said "aren't we in a war right now..."

It's all bullshit. I've been approaching this economic nightmare like it's any other day, thanks to you! Plus, plain common sense tells me that panicking will only make it worse. I have, however, been more mindful than usual of patronizing small businesses.