Why worry about the stock market.

[C......N......C]

It used to be to support business. WHen the Dow goes up 500, what does that do. It doesn't start any business. It just supplies more money to the salary pool.

[GoesTo11]

1. You're right. I'll retire on catfood.

[kentuck]

2. Will saving these banks create any jobs??

No jobs, no recovery. The banks may feel a whole lot better but how about everyone else?

[NC_Nurse]

3. If you don't have an IRA, 401K, mutual fund, pension plan, or any other

retirement investment there I suppose you would feel that way. Those of us who do feel otherwise.
I'm not rich, I would still like to retire someday, sooner than later. Unlike many of those who make
much more than I do, my job involves getting off my ass and requires a good back and a lot of stamina.
I don't want to be trying to do it at 70.

[C......N......C]

6. I understand what you are saying. What I am

saying is that they steal most of the money that should go to your personal funds. They steal dollars and give you pennies. I am a 64 year old diesel mechanic and everything I touch is heavy and I have a herniated disc, torn biceps inflamed knee bursa live on pain pills. And I will be working to the day that I die thanks to Wall Street.

[NC_Nurse]

11. It sucks that they have gambled away what money I've been able to put away.

I hear your point about that. I still want it to come back up so I might be able to retire some day.
I also want more regulations and it would be icing on the cake if a few of these a'holes went to jail.
I'm not holding my breath on that last part though.

[nevergiveup]

4. Most of my retirement funds

are in the stock market in one way or the other. I have thus far lost about 40% of retirement I had been saving for many many years. I am 64 and have some health issues and do not know how long I can keep my small company going. For many of my generation the stock market crash has been brutal. I am therefore very concerned about the stock market.

[NeedleCast]

5. I woulnd't say I worry about it at my age (35)

Although I do have a 403(b) and some other stocks that I watch. All my investments are long term, so I don't worry about daily ups and downs.

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. What people refuse to acknowledge is that the stock market

and this includes the "sacred" 401ks, are ALL gambling with your money. If you (and I am guilty of this also) put your money into stocks for your retirement you are GAMBLING with your future. And, despite what some want to ignore, sometimes when you gamble, you LOSE.

[Prometheus Bound]

8. I know a group of wealthy men that gamble in the stock market and in Macau, Asia's Las Vegas.

They're all pretty good at their own businesses, but they're crap at picking the stock market (focusing on small caps). They keep track of their winnings and the ones I know in the group seem to be down by the end of each year. And this was before the meltdown.

They do better at the gambling tables though, roughly breaking even, or so they say.

But they regard this as a game, so even if they lose it all it's not a huge deal.

For the life of me I can't understand why people would put their life savings in something as inherently risky as the stock market. I know, you make good returns over a long period.

Sure.

[C......N......C]

9. 401's and all the other including

the move to privatize Social Security were and are all just Conservative Rethugs ways to get more money for their kids retirement plans. No pension plan of any kind should have ever been put into any kind of speculative market. Period.

[KharmaTrain]

10. Cause It's The Only Game...

Unless you plan to be a survivalist, money makes the world go 'round. There's not much of an alternative...and one that now has us all in its grip. A new system has to emerge from the old one as there is no alternative to work with (communism ain't gonna fly) and this is the best hopes. Regulations that once safeguarded savings and kept it detached from the speculators need to be reinstituted and then it must be enforced. It won't be perfect, but it will be functional enough for all to live with.

A collapse in the market would shock this economy into a place none of us would like to see. The trick is a "soft landing" where the dirty assets are isolated from the legitimate ones and then to rebuild both the credit and consumer markets. This also means capping interest rates and repleaing the 2005 bankruptcy bill...give people over their heads a way to come back.

Cheers..

[serrano2008]

12. Cause it's free money if you're getting in now.

I never invested in the stock market before but the past few months I started doing some intense research and putting in money. I own half of these companies now with my tax dollars so I may as well profit with them.