Sep 22 2008
Credit Crisis! Can the Bleeding Be Stopped?
Say the words “credit crisis” out loud today and you’ll hear a mixed bag of opinions about what or who is to blame. The finger-pointing starts with the Wall Street investment houses and the federal government, and trickles down to lending banks, mortgage brokers, and individual homeowners.
Look no further than a Twing keyword search to see what regular people like you have to say on the subject of accountability – especially when it comes to themselves! Whatever your personal viewpoint, the bottom line is that it took all the above players (and more) to allow bad investments to bring Wall Street to the brink of disaster…and assigning blame at this late date isn’t gonna fix that.
Economists are sizing up the mess we’re in today against the financial crisis of the 1970s, and they’re referencing the Great Depression of the 1930s with too-close-for-comfort comparisons. How do you comprehend the seriousness of the situation? How is it causing you to make changes in your everyday life?
No matter your level of economic understanding, nearly every American is going to find herself paying for the pickle we’re in. (Think everyday citizens aren’t interested in this high-level financial stuff? Twing’s Buzz Charts for financial or credit crisis will prove you wrong. And you’re also talking a lot more about some of the major companies involved.)
Last week, the federal government bailed out insurance giant AIG, having already swept in to save mortgage monsters Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We also saw millions of investment dollars go up in flames with the demise of Merrill Lynch and the do-or-die buyout of once rock-solid Lehman Brothers. Now the U.S. government is allowing lifesaving status changes for Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, and proposing an emergency $700 billion dollar federal relief bill to buy up the bad mortgage loans that are weighing down financial institutions. Do you think government has the obligation to intervene or should the chips be left to fall where they may?
Join the countless conversations happening right now in online forums about the ailing U.S. economy, how individuals are weathering the still-worsening credit crisis, and how your vote in the upcoming presidential election will effect the future of this country’s economic policy. Twing can take you there!
We may not stop the bleeding but we can slow it down to prevent us from bleeding to death. We need to shift our focus to people and away from business. All focus is placed on businesses under the cover of protecting jobs. Who is speaking for our unemployed? Our responsible folks who care about their credit but has earned a low credit score for lateness on payments? A large segment of our people do not qualify for credit, or find a good paying job. What about our people that went to college but see their jobs outsourced to India? This segment of our people are not addressed in this bloodshed. The middle income wage earners with union jobs were the back bone of America’s ecomony.
Republicans have sold out our country and our people. I want back my country. I love my country, and it saddens me to see us now in such a crisis. This financial crisis is a security risk, and I am afraid for my country. Where is Homeland Security? Who is addressing this security risk?
I have lost faith in our leaders. I assume from here on that our leaders lack common sense. Therefore I hope that Homeland Security has not overlooked the security threat to our country that this financial crisis imposes. We can not afford to protect our country now. This financial crisis is another attack on the American people while our leaders looked the other way.
I feel your pain. I do think however, the situation is more than complicated, since there has been a multitude of players in this mess of both party affiliations. It is not the matter of whether republicans or dems. got us here, it is a matter by which we the people will hold our elected officials accountable. I truly believe that a belief that is alive and afraid of public scrutiny will bring down the walls that have kept officials insulated from their constituates.
And I would add that the mechanisms by which we the people hold authority accountable has landed in the lap of publications and media hype. When we vote we feel insignificant because the telephone line is long when it comes to really knowing what is going on. Ever play that simple game? One message in exits as an entirely different tune.
I’m nervous about how few Americans demanded answers of elected officials before this financial mess evolved into the mess. Makes me wonder if “In God We Trust” truly is a ghost…that haunts.
I agree Bouyantblue. I think there should be more answers and less evasion. Not that that’s about to happen. “In God We Trust” but not the elected officials.
Great website for getting answers,
http://www.weegy.com/