Crash Time?

[l33tminion]

Well, not yet but here's the market close for today from Google Finance:

Dow: 10,365.45, change -777.68 (-6.98%)
Nasdaq: 1,983.73, change -199.61 (-9.14%)
S&P 500: 1,106.42, change -106.59 (-8.79%)

Banks are taking a big hit:
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. (SOV): -72.16%
National City Corporation (NCC): -63.34%
Fifth Third Bancorp: -43.63%
Wachovia Corporation (WB): -81.50%

But tech companies and retailers are also taking a pounding, apparently on nothing more than fears of a recession / depression reducing consumer demand:
Apple Inc. (AAPL): -17.42%
Circuit City Stores, Inc. (CC): -21.17%
Google Inc. (GOOG): -10.68%
Microsoft Corporatio (MSFT): -8.39%
Dell Inc. (DELL): -6.35%
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (JAVA): -9.69%
Palm, Inc.: -10.66%
Hewlett-Packard Company: -6.82%
Best Buy Co., Inc.: -6.49%
AT&T Inc.: -7.50%
SanDisk Corporation: -12.76%

The bailout failed to pass the House of Representatives. The majority of Democrats supported it, the majority of Republicans we're against. Evidently "don't give money to rich people" is less of a motivation than "FREE MARKET!!!1!", and/or the Republicans hate JohnMcCain. "My constituents will be pissed" was evidently also a significant motivator (for once). Representatives in contested elections were far more likely to oppose the bill; as D.C. Simpson points out, no one wants to see "$700 billion" in their opponent's campaign ads.

Update: Roll call is here. Evidently, the bill was titled "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide earnings assistance and tax relief to members of the uniformed services, volunteer firefighters, and Peace Corps volunteers, and for other purposes". They basically amended some other bill to completely change it in order to bypass committee procedure. There was an amendment to change the name, but it failed. There is evidently no legal requirement for bills' titles to have anything to do with their contents.

Comments

[chiaki777.livejournal.com]

Nope, bills can be about walruses and be named Apples.

Seeing that, there goes all of the companies California relies on for revenue.

[l33tminion]

Things are not looking so good for that area.

[chiaki777.livejournal.com]

I'll bud in and say, no one on my street has suffered a foreclosure in my hometown, and we're, for the most part, stable due to the affluence of old money staying in our area. We're mostly the non-yuppies who moved here more than 20 years ago. California's foreclosure rate is a direct result of over speculation. The biggest red areas are the new housing developments that popped up everywhere to encourage both out of state and in state residents to buy bigger and larger. I laughed with scorn to these little boom-towns that did nothing more than to be nonsensical islands of people with nothing supporting them. No jobs, few schools, and few options for growth besides residential.

Also, Davis is in the blue, because we're in a bubble economy.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Nope, bills can be about walruses and be named Apples.

Not in Washington State. For a while I was mulling over a proposed constitutional change requiring the state language be inserted in the national.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

I welcome a crash. I really do. The crash of '29 led to the creation of the Social Security System; this crash could wipe out enough retirement savings to prompt a Defined Benefit Retirement system and other needed, robust vehicles found in proper social safety nets.

It's sad, but necessary, it seems. Let the bloated fucker die. Salvage what remains, only make it better.

[l33tminion]

"Collapse is an economizing process"...

I wonder if we'll have the resources for that sort of thing once this all plays out. Remember the old doomer proverb, "Be careful what you wish for." Not that wishing really changes matters.