Question about the market downturn for us struggling folks.

[Bonobo]

For those of us struggling to make it...

Maybe you are unemployed, under-employed, have no health-care or inadequate health care.

Maybe you can't pay to fix your teeth, go out to dinner, or take a vacation.

Maybe you started buying food in bulk, lowering your thermostat to 60 degrees.

You certainly don't have money in the market and are struggling just to stay out of too much debt...

Is there any reason that people like us should care THAT much about the stock market falling?

Many of us fell a long time ago and will actually experience some pleasure knowing that rich people will have a chunk taken out of there ass for once in a while.

Maybe I am just ignorant. I probably am, so that is why I am asking.

Is there a major reason we should care? How much worse can it get for those of us down here?

[mikelgb]

1. I wonder this as well

[NMDemDist2]

2. lots worse

if the banks shut down so does industry. no industry, no jobs

this same type deregulation led to the Great Depression and it seems we've forgotten those lessons

better pray whoever our candidate is, that they be a reincarnation of FDR, we'll need it.

[L0oniX]

12. Uhm hasn't that industry been out sourced? Just askin.

[NMDemDist2]

14. we still build cars and bombs n/t

[L0oniX]

20. Heh ...I moved out of Michigan and the auto jobs are there are in jeopardy.

China is making cars and they have plans for us. Some dealers are already importing them.

[TomClash]

3. If you shed a tear for anyone on Wall Street

or anyone who lives off investments, you are a fool.

But if the economy declines, then many underemployed will be unemployed and those with inadequate health care will have no health care. In that respect, the Empire's economic woes are a problem for everybody.

[Nite Owl]

4. Mainly because if corporations

aren't doing well because of lack of consumer demand they will lay off even more workers to meet their bottom line. That means more mortgages go to default, more people without healthcare, less taxes coming into the treasuries of federal and state governments etc. Bad just gets worse.

[Bonobo]

5. When the shit hits the fan bad enough, the mobs will turn towards D.C.

Maybe that's what should have already happened.

Maybe it will wake people the fuck up and we'll start making some steps to address the inequity in this country.

[havocmom]

6. Those on the lower rungs ALWAYS get hurt when those at the top

start falling.

Hell yes, you should care. Those fat cats are gonna land on us. WE are what breaks their fall. Always.

[Jed Dilligan]

23. If that's true

I'll be holding something pointy.

:evilgrin:

[havocmom]

24. who was the clever pundit on Dobbs who said the only growth industry in America

would soon be torches & pitch forks?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Yes, you should. The Great Depression started because of the stock market.

And, as a result, the people that suffered most weren't the rich.

[napi21]

8. Well, a lot of people now have 401K accounts. Speaking for myself

it's the only thing I have to supplement SS and I'm 64! You don't HAVE to be 64 to be getting somewhat excited about the market fall. THAT strongly affects YOUR 401K too ya know.

I'm not saying anything about sympathy for the big boys. They can withstand the storm. Hell, many of them aused this mess. But this affects a lot of lower class & middle class people too!

[Blue_In_AK]

9. I agree with that...

My husband and I both have small IRAs - mine was an inheritance from my mother, and his is from his many years as a marine engineer. We are hemorrhaging money out of our accounts over the past couple of months, and we're in our 60s, also. Not everyone who has money in the market is "rolling in dough." It's what we're supposed to be able to live on now in our "golden years," but it looks like I'm going to be stuck pounding the keyboard to earn my $$ until I drop dead.

[Winterblues]

10. It's called unemployment

and it will become rampant..Even the drug dealers will be squeeling.

[Lasher]

11. About half of all US households own stock.

Nearly two-fifths of this stock is held in retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs. While most stock is held by high income households, a market downturn affects lots of people who actually work for a living.

http://www.cbpp.org/1-30-06tax2.htm

[mdmc]

13. R

:kick:

[mdmc]

17. I don't really worry, per se. We can't do a thing about it.

Just keep on truckin.
If it gets bad enough the sheeple will rise up and demand a fair deal. If it doesn't get too bad we keep struggling to make ends meet and hope for the best.
Peace and low stress..

[OneGrassRoot]

15. It seems so dismal that I sincerely wonder why our candidates are running?

It's going to be brutal trying to turn the Titanic around now, and whoever gets in there will - as usual - get blamed fairly quickly even though he/she will be inheriting a nightmare.

That's why I think they need to really start speaking bluntly and truthfully about this issue, though I realize it's a fine line not to scare the shit out of people and thus they go to the repubs who tell them "everything is peachy."

But again, why would a very well-intentioned person want to take on what is essentially a losing battle for several years? I assume they are ultimately well-intentioned, so that makes me hopeful that they feel it's not beyond the point of no return.

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. This is going to be worse than The Great Depression. Our only hope is a Democratic President is in

office when the shit hits the fan. Katrina comes to my mind...fend for yourself....you're on your own.



The Great Depression began in October 1929, when the stock market in the United States dropped rapidly. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money and many were wiped out, lost everything. The 'crash' led us into the Great Depression. The ensuing period ranked as the longest and worst period of high unemployment and low business activity in modern times. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of Americans jobless, homeless, and penniless. Many people came to depend on the government or charity to provide them with food.

http://www.42explore2.com/depresn.htm

[L0oniX]

18. Citi lays off 24,000 and I feel fine about that especially if it stops those credit card offers.

What they don't say is if those 24,000 are out sourced jobs or not. Sprint lays off 5,000 because everyone and their mother son is switching to ATT but hey it wasn't because they were charging an arm and a leg for service with the help desk being out sourced. Corporations have out sourced so much of our jobs that the only jobs left are in the service industry and I am a pro at using a mop so what do I care. Corporations are our enemies. They have screwed us every which way you turn. They are screwing us right now with this election by steering us to who ever they want to be president and they want who ever will do their bidding. The only people who defend corporations are those that work for them!

[SoCalDem]

21. those "offers" are computer generated..from India, probably

NOTHING will stop them.. They have boosted the shredder industry, though :)

[SoCalDem]

19. Your 401-k will soon be a 101-k..(all according to plan)

Why do you think the 401-k plan was pushed in the first place?? Some fat-cats decided that they did not want money sitting idly by in pension plans, and they always managed to get into trouble when they started pilfering those pots of gold..so they eliminated most pensions, and forced/coerced employees into 401-ks..

they knew that many younger workers would not participate at the level where they even HAd to put company fund into the thing, and even if they did, their share was rather limited..

401-ks have costs associated with them. and the risk is all borne by the "investors"...if the whole thing takes a crap, and the employee finds himself/herself retiring in a "downturn"..it's just tough shit and good luck..

The "market" loved the sudden influx of all that money, and that's also why so many of them want to get their hands oon that last piece of pie.. Social security..

The "market" is just a slot machine.. spin the wheel..some win a little, most lose.. the HOUSE always wins..

If industry/business had just given people the RAISES they deserved for all those years, and not monkeyed around with interest rates, people would have continued to SAVE...in BANKS..

Low interest rates FORCED people into the market..as did their employers... we are a captive audience and once they have our money, they can do whatever they please with it..

When some DO get caught with their hands in the cookie jar, what happens to them?? a slap on the wrist, and the money STOLEN never gets sent back to the victims.. They get to keep it hidden away..

Where did all that money GO?? It went somewhere..it did not just evaporate into thin air.,.

The system is rigged against "the little guy" .. it always was and it always will be ....

[Jed Dilligan]

22. It's like being a renter when the housing market crashes

or being a debtor when the dollar crashes.

There's an upside for you, but the chaos and misery surrounding you won't be worth it.