A Free Fall, of Sorts

If you've been keeping up with the news at all, you'll know that the stock market is for all intents and purposes, crashing. Some economists are starting to say that what we're witnessing could be the beginning of a financial crises that will make the Great Depression look like a picnic. Basically, it has never happened before that everything is falling so far, so fast.

Many people think that the stock market crash in 1929 was a singular event, something that happened overnight and left lasting repercussions. That isn't true at all. It was an overall gradual decline over a few years, punctuated by steep losses every few months.

Here are the charts from Yahoo! News:

The 1929 crash, and it's aftermath (Feb 1929 to Feb 1930).

The 2008 crash, and it's aftermath (Feb 2008 to Feb 2009).

If you notice, there's a great deal of similarity. However, the stock market now has lost more percentage-wise from the high of a year and half ago until today, than the stock market in 1929 did. The initial drop this time was lower, but the overall decline is what is frightening. The initial drop in 1929 was 40%, but by February the following year having recovered some, it was down 29% from it's high the year before.

Last October, the initial drop was "only" 21%, however the stock market is down as of today 48% from it's high a little under a year and a half ago. And it isn't going away anytime soon. If history is any indicator of anything, it's going to be one hell of a ride, in slow motion.

Anyone who has studied the Roman Empire knows that it didn't fall overnight. It was a gradual thing, something that happened so slowly that the people living through it might not have even noticed it until long after the fact. In many ways, Depressions are the same way. We know something is wrong, but we're not ready to call it a game yet.

On the bright side, all of this could have a very positive outcome. My grandmother used to tell me that "you can't take it with you." People are greedy and materialistic, and in all of this there is a lesson to be learned. Money is not everything. Oh, it's good to have for the purposes of having a roof over your head and food on the table, but do you really need another flat screen television for the kitchen/bathroom/garage/etc? Or the latest fashionable purse/shoes/etc? Or a car/house/boat/etc. that you can't really afford? Many people in this country are very spoiled, and in my humble opinion, they're going to have a very rude awakening before it's over with.

Money is Always More Important

You know, I think that Mrs. Clinton should really watch those Freudian slips or perhaps just shut the hell up. Why? Because every time she speaks, she manages to say something that makes my respect for her go one notch lower.

Today for instance it was reported that she said while speaking about China:

"But our pressing on [human rights] can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis..."

Yes, because money is always more important than life or human rights. I mean, think of all the things you can buy with money. Whereas, what can you buy with some China man's life half a world away? A life is obviously worth nothing to the politically powerful and wealthy. These are the same personality types that ruled Medieval Europe from their castles while the serfs who were practically slaves, did all the work and suffered.

Same shit, different day.

Malkin and Her Short Memory

Lay the blame anywhere but where it belongs.

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/17/president-obamas-2000-point-tumble/

Ms. Malkin seems to think it's all Obama's fault that the stock market is in a free fall. She states that it's fallen 2k points since he was elected, never mind that he wasn't even in office for a majority of that time.

It couldn't possibly be the failed economic policies of the last decade. Nah, it couldn't possibly be the corruption, the deregulation, the lack of government oversight with the banks and mortgage lending. It couldn't possibly be the Republicans allowing all of the high paying factory work to be shipped to China or Mexico so that their crony CEO friends could make record profits and take home record bonuses of hundreds of millions of dollars while using slave wage labor in third world countries. It couldn't possibly be a Republican's fault.

When G. Dubya took office we had a budget surplus, which he quickly squandered. He also squandered a lot of other things too. The friendship and trust of our allies and the wealth of this country are just the tip of the iceberg to what that man and his administration squandered.

Malkin must have a very short memory, because from May of 2008 until G.Dubya Bush exited office on January 20, 2009 the stock market fell over 5,000 points. It went from over 13k to under 8k. In fact, since January 20th when Obama took office, until today, the stock market had been up a little bit on average. Of course, today it fell a lot, and I suspect it's going to continue that trend, as reversing the mismanagement of the previous administration isn't going to happen overnight.

I have a good friend who told me right after the election that she figured that the Republicans would prop up the economy the best they could until Obama took office, then they would not cooperate, and would let everything collapse and blame it all on Obama and the Democrats. That makes for a nice excuse for all sorts of fascist aspirations. I'll leave your imagination to that one.

Perhaps Malkin and her ilk, if they want to know the reason for the state our economy is in, they can go and look in the mirror. They voted for it, and they continue to advocate for failed policies.

The blame lies at their own feet.