Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[cardinalkarp]

This American Life did a follow up to the fanf'ingtastic "Giant Pool of Money" episode and it is up and available free on their Itunes podcast today.


Worth checking out if you want to hear what's going on in understandable, honest terms.

I can't say enough good things about this program. They've got everything from great stories to some of the best in depth reporting on current affairs.

What channel is it on?

[Freed Roger]

This American Life did a follow up to the fanf'ingtastic "Giant Pool of Money" episode and it is up and available free on their Itunes podcast today.


Worth checking out if you want to hear what's going on in understandable, honest terms.

I can't say enough good things about this program. They've got everything from great stories to some of the best in depth reporting on current affairs.

What channel is it on?

the programs website http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365

[Arthur Dent]

This American Life did a follow up to the fanf'ingtastic "Giant Pool of Money" episode and it is up and available free on their Itunes podcast today.


Worth checking out if you want to hear what's going on in understandable, honest terms.

I can't say enough good things about this program. They've got everything from great stories to some of the best in depth reporting on current affairs.

What channel is it on?

the programs website http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365

It's also on KWMU (NPR) on Sundays at 6:00pm, but really it's much easier to just listen online at your convenience.

[Hungary Jack]

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve announced a radical new plan on Tuesday to jump-start the engine of the financial system.

The Fed said in a statement that it would begin to buy large amounts of short-term debt in an effort to stimulate the credit markets, which have all but dried up.

Under the program, the Fed said that it would buy the unsecured short-term debt that companies rely on to finance their day-to-day activities. “This facility should encourage investors to once again engage in term lending in the commercial paper market,” the Fed said Tuesday in a statement. “An improved commercial paper market will enhance the ability of financial intermediaries to accommodate the credit needs of businesses and households.”

...

It sounds like we're effectively nationalizing banking here. Can we just go ahead and go the whole way and get it over with?

My thoughts exactly. I was watching on CNN when Bernake made these comments, and my reaction was "Holy [Schmoly]". The situation is really dire right now.

[ghostrunner]

You've discovered Lovejoy's? My favorite bar ever, in Austin or anywhere. Wish I could find more places like it.

[EastonBlues22]

Is anyone else out there buying yet? I'll be dumping 50% of my paycheck into profit sharing starting next week with most of the money going into an S&P 500 Index and the rest into Walgreens stock. I'm not an investor maven by any means, but I had a decent amount of money that wasn't working for me in my checking account and this seems like a good opportunity to make some long term investments.

I figure either the economy rebounds strong at some point and I'm that much better off, or it never recovers and I'm screwed whether I invested or not.

Only do that if this is money you don't need to see again for the next 5 or 10 years. You don't want to be forced into a position where you have to sell before values have recovered.

I'm good, I have about 5x my annual earnings stashed away in various places that can be accessed without penalty in case of emergency. Right now a good chunk of it is tentatively earmarked for immediately paying down my pharmacy school debt, but that's really a luxury more than a necessity.

I don't plan on touching my profit sharing until the day I retire.

[clement]

easton, I was actually talking to a financial advisor just before this meltdown and was planning to put some money in a pretty safe fund. I asked an economist friend of mine the same question you're asking (he worked with Ben Bernanke) and he said, "Why don't you just keep it in the bank?" He seems to think it's better to just wait a little while because the bottom may be a long ways away. Sure, if you get in now and it's all uphill from here, you'll have gotten in on the ground floor. But the alternative is to just ride it out, wait till there are one or two months of sustained growth or stability, and then jump in.

[Arthur Dent]

It's funny how you can lose a ton of money in the stock market and not be that upset about it. I mean if I lost way less money because I was robbed, lost something valuable, broke something, etc., I'd be extremely upset. As it is, I'm just shrugging it off I because wasn't planning on using this money for another 40 years or so. Still...

[EastonBlues22]

easton, I was actually talking to a financial advisor just before this meltdown and was planning to put some money in a pretty safe fund. I asked an economist friend of mine the same question you're asking (he worked with Ben Bernanke) and he said, "Why don't you just keep it in the bank?" He seems to think it's better to just wait a little while because the bottom may be a long ways away. Sure, if you get in now and it's all uphill from here, you'll have gotten in on the ground floor. But the alternative is to just ride it out, wait till there are one or two months of sustained growth or stability, and then jump in.

Well, it's profit sharing so it's not like I can just dump everything that I want to in at once. Even at 50% of my paycheck, it's going to take me 10-12 months to "transfer" the amount that I want from my checking account into profit sharing. I figure the economy is going to be in the tank long enough for most of that to come in while the market is fairly suppressed.

The good news is that my company historically matches the first 2% to the tune of about 3:1, there's no broker fees, and the amounts that come out of my paycheck aren't counted against my taxable income.

[clement]

Wow it's getting worse. Asia is crashing, especially Japan. Europe is crashing. Just saw a press conference with British PM Gordon Brown... he effectively has blamed the US for the whole mess.