Just saw on CNN that the dow dropped 777 points today. Ouch. http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/29/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes Anybody else take it in the shorts today?
Unless the companies you are invested in go bankrupt, you really never "take it in the shorts" unless you sell while your assets are underwater. A sudden drop like this can be killer to speculators and day traders, but shouldn't really affect long-term investors. Of course, if no bailout plan is ever approved and the economy collapses, then you'll see a lot of investments go down forever. But I don't expect that to happen. As politically unpopular as a bailout may be come congressional elections, presiding over a collapsed economy will be even more politically crushing. So, even political expediency will eventually align itself in favour of the bailout plan passing.
What they haven't said: We're talking about borrowing more money from China here. It's not like Bush left any money in the bank. He blew our savings and our 401k and our college fund and our long-term care fund all in his first 2 years. He has mortgaged America to China and China will own us for the next 4 decades minimum. The leverage it gives them over us will make us impotent on the world stage, and leave us at great risk of being defeated in war as our military might rusts and decays for lack of funds. Wall street is an annoying gnat of little consequence compared to the big picture Bush/Cheney have painted.
