I stop reading the news….
by Jesse on Sep.30, 2008, under Politics
..for one day and the world blows up. Yesterday, I walked into a bunker in Culpepper, VA and was more/less completely out of circulation for most of the day.
I come out, get in the car, turn on the radio, and hear “…dow dropped over 750 points today as the House of Representives failed to pass the 2008 rescue package.”
Holy crap.
I’m still employed, this is a good thing, and the amazing part is that the recruiter calls have actually picked up in the last two weeks after a period of being dead. Not that I’m in the market, but it’s good to know I have somewhere to fall if all hell breaks loose.
I’m going to go to ranting about politics for one post, and one post only.
This bailout isn’t a good thing, it’s not comfortable, and it’s not something I’m looking forward to. But it needs to happen.
Kind of like having an infected leg. If it’s too infected, you have to cut the leg off. You don’t want to, it’s life-altering, and it’s going to hurt like hell – but to not do it means you’re going to die.
If the financial markets aren’t bailed out, credit will stop. Businesses and private citizens will no longer be able to get credit for anything. Small or large, whether it’s to renew the lease on your car, purchase a new car/home, or like me, front money for travel. It all just stops. Certain evidence has shown that this started happening months ago. (American Express determined about 6 weeks ago that I was no longer a good risk, despite the fact that I paid every bill on-time and in-full.)
If this happens, money stops moving. Anyone who has taken Econ-101 knows that when money stops moving, the economy crashes harder than we’ve ever seen.
Hopefully we’ll see some change in the next week or so. Because sometimes I think that limbo is a much worse place to be.
Gas prices are down though, so maybe there is a silver lining. 
October 2nd, 2008 on 8:12 pm
Amex don’t make much money when you pay on time and in full. They’d actually rather slug you for interest, late payment charges etc. As much as the finance industry craps on, they only make money by handing out money and then demanding interest. Every notice the passage in the Bible about the money changers being driven out of the temple for their usurious deeds?
October 2nd, 2008 on 8:54 pm
But it’s funny that it’s the big guys who are panicing. American Express and Bank of America both pulled back on business credit, but smaller banks have not.
October 2nd, 2008 on 11:29 pm
I’m not surprised, after almost 10 years carrying a balance Bank of America did the same thing when I started paying my card off every month.
Then again i don’t bank with BofA anymore because of that.