It's really something. One hardly knows what to say . . .

[pegkerr]

Okay, I was stupid. I knew I shouldn't look, but I did. My 401(k) has lost about 39% of its value since the beginning of the year. My family's dealing with unemployment, but I know there are a helluva lot of families out there with equally scary stories. The mind boggles, trying to grasp what this desperation is like, nationwide.

A sentence in the cover article of this week's Time Magazine sort of jumped out at me: "Credit Suisse predicts that 13% of U.S. homeowners with mortgages could end up losing their homes."

Excuse me?

You know, I wouldn't blame either Obama OR McCain for looking at the mess of headlines from the last couple weeks and saying, "You know, come to think of it . . . nah. I'm withdrawing my name from the ballot. Don't want the job anymore." But we need someone to step up and lead us out of this mess. Which just keeps getting more frightening all the time.

Remember that great exchange in between the President and one of his advisors in Rob Reiner's movie The American President?

Lewis Rothschild: People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.

President Andrew Shepherd: Lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference.

You know, I'm getting really tired of drinking sand.

(Great movie, if you haven't seen it.)

Comments

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

It is my favorite movie, hands down.

Watched it last week, after one of Obama's speechwriters stole a line.

I wonder if they've tried to hire Sorkin for the campaign yet?

[jbru.livejournal.com]

Love that movie. (It's The American President BTW.)

My favorite quote, "For the record: yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But the more important question is why aren't you, Bob?"

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Fixed!

[eal.livejournal.com]

If you loved West Wing, too, there was a great line from Leo McGarry:

I'm tired of it. Year after year after year after year, having to choose between the lesser of who cares. Of trying to make myself get excited about the candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low I can't even look at it. They say a good man can't get elected President; I don't believe that, do you?

From In the Shadow of Two Gunman, part 1

And that? Sums up my feelings about presidential politics most of the time.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Why settle for the lesser evil?

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Hold on however you can. This won't last.

[only-sound.livejournal.com]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html?scp=1&sq=maureen%20dowd%20aaron%20sorkin&st=cse

You all have seen this, right? (Writer for The American President and The West Wing stages a meeting between Obama and The West Wing President)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have!

[wordswoman.livejournal.com]

It's deeply frightening. I was depressed enough checking my retirement account balances a week ago; I don't dare look again now.

I was working for an investment office on Black Monday in 1987, which was then the biggest one-day percentage decline in history. I remember the investment analysts just huddling around the stock ticker screens in a state of shock. Yet I don't remember feeling scared myself. Maybe because I had so much less to lose, back then. No investments, no house, no kids, no debts.

Everything is scarier when you've got hostages to fortune.

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

Not that much has changed in 21 years! This week my guys are still huddling around the Bloomberg terminals with Very Concerned Faces. I still don't feel affected because I still don't have any money. You're right about the hostages to fortune thing - I don't have those, so I can safely say my retirement plan is to die young. Not everybody can.

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

My retirement account is hurting me but what I can't bear to look at? Is the college account we set up for the girls.

That makes me weep.

[kayselkiemoon.livejournal.com]

I do love that film. ^_^ that and The West Wing.

[aome.livejournal.com]

We love that movie, too. :)

We got our quarterly reports yesterday; Will seemed to take a perverse pleasure in announcing how much we (including the girls - college funds) had lost. Really, I didn't need to know that. I believe in the long-term resiliency of the market, and we're fortunate enough that retirement and college are still a ways off for us, but the current status isn't pretty. I think what frustrates me is I see *some* (obviously, not all) of the economic problems as being self-fulfilling. People get nervous about stocks, so they sell - which means the market does, indeed, fall. If people had more confidence, and BOUGHT - then, sure enough, the market would come up. Obviously, that doesn't solve all the current problems, but it would help.

And now for something different. . .

[stinaleigh.livejournal.com]

I know week nights are hard for you, but I wanted to let you know about this theater event that is FREE ($5-$20 requested donation, but not necessary).

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=299611213&blogID=438704964

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

In a time when people are willing to drink sand (what a horribly true metaphor) I just figured out how to get rich. All you need to do is to send out a spam email something like this -
----
Afraid of losing your home? We can help!
Did you know that if you file for bankruptcy all your debts are wiped out and you CANNOT LOSE YOUR HOME?

It's easy!

Simply send us $300 for filing fees and we GUARANTEE...
-----
I can't even type any more of that. It was making me ill. My God - I hope not too many people decide to profiteer on this crisis. I hope their attempts are as obvious as the one above and that the vast majority of people know better than to fall for it.

Scary.

[nwl.livejournal.com]

I've seen any number of those spams (help with mortgages) on my email and have for a while now. I also get at least two "make money at home" spams a day as well. If you look in your local paper, there are probably a number of ads that say the same thing.

I've also seen ads on TV for debt consolidation, which may or may not be legit. One of the big issues (I guess that would be the word) in the D.C. area centers around "pay day loan" offices and the businesses that offer a short term loan based on ones car registration.

You must have a pretty good, or at least better than mine, spam filter if you haven't had any spam about debt.

[mangosorbet007.livejournal.com]

I am in Germany and found out a while ago that a chunk of my retirement money was invested in - yes, a low-risk fund that was performing well, but was owned by a Dutch subsidiary of Lehman, and so now it's not performing any longer, and never will again. It's the equivalent of the value of my 2004 car. Just gone. :-(

::just sharing, no need to reply, slinking back into lurkdom::