remember when the republicans wanted to allow people to invest ss money in the stock market?

to me this feels like same old, same old, large amounts of money were invested and then pulled out of the internet bubble, then in real estate, then in forgein funds, then in commodities.

There are people who are at the ground floor who get elevated with the momentum - look at all the re millionaries created because of housing prices in bklyn - and then are lots of people who are selling at the top and making profits and looking for the next best bet to place their money...its all just wealth moving around, disrupting the stability of markets...

Excellent question,#34. The history of America in these times should basically be boiled down to a three and a half second sound bite to be delivered by Lindsey Lohan.

This is what happens when the government rewards incompetence. This goes way back to the chrysler bail-out in 1980. Businesses take foolish risks and act recklessly expecting the federal government to pull their fat out of the fire if it all goes bad.

Ha. The smart guys got out a while ago and are sitting on piles of money in the Caymans.

The music always stops.

Can we at least collapse as an empire with a little dignity like the Romans did by celebrating one great big orgy?

I mean I HAVE been getting f*ed all along these last 8 years, just not the way I expected....

What I want to know is what Matt Damon and Lindsay Lohan think about this.

Well, now most New York guys will have a chance to compete against the now poor Wall Street types.

No more gold digging for you, bitches!

hello and welcome New Poor People!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments regarding this matter.

I walked by the Lehman Bros. building at lunchtime today. There were all sorts of TV trucks waiting out front, everyone looking at the building as if they were waiting for its video facade to burst into tears.

I'm just wondering where the chicks on Stone street will go now looking for Rich Investment bankers.

Then again, I didn't want to sell my place in the next four years, anyway.

I am glad reality is setting in.

I ain't worried till the bars in Chelsea

go out o' business due to lack of customers.

If dat happens ,wow!!

Whoopie, "make it a double bartender please"!

WWIII

FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!

Nero was an emperor, not a dictator. He earned his job fair and square, his mother killed off the competition. Actually during Nero's term as chief executive officer Rome was doing quite well. It was his lavish spending that put a bit of a bite on the populace, but they recovered, he didn't.

I would rather hold a piece of real NYC property than stock in any company out there, including the casino stocks. At least it's real.

This will clear out all the deadwood floating around NYC.

How is Bloomberg doing?

yeah, NYC real estate, your time has come.

All the people on this site who were longing for a return to the 70s, when NYC was "edgy", well, it's coming.

First, we have massive layoffs. Bear, Lehman, Merrill, AIG, etc. All that job loss will kill the real estate market, kill all the other businesses who rely on Wall Street money, and, most importantly, kill tax revenues - this at a time when we were already facing a 6.4 billion dollar budget deficit.

No budget for low level jobs, social services or police, and we're looking at a new crime wave. People are already seeing more squeegee men, and we're just getting started. Anyone who bought in a new, fringe neighborhood- well, you're probably more screwed than the rest of us.

There being fewer investment banks is better in a way. The reckless banks have been weeded out. Now there is less competition. The remaining banks will be more careful and selective for their own prosperity. Hopefully the stock holders will appreciate it. The housing market needs to fall back to earth. Housing isn't the commodity some people make it out to be.

With all these investment banks imploding and so many people getting fired, this does not bode well for the NYC property market.

^ Well, I certainly agree that no one should allow W. to touch the controls of a plane, a supercollider, or the "football" while he still draws breath. His is a bible thumping parody of a biblical figure come to life as a biblical calamity.

#12- George Bush will make it happen. I don't know if he's the most idiotic president ever but he certainly is the unluckiest. Has any other president had a specter of impending apocalypse like George Bush? and Nero doesn't count cause he was a dictator.