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Worst Day on Wall Street Since 9/11!

091508trader.jpgThe Dow Jones industrial average lost over 500 points today, the biggest one-day decline for the Dow since Sept. 17, 2001, when the market reopened for trading after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "You have to throw out the history books because there's really nothing to compare this to," Jim Dunigan, chief investment officer at PNC Advisors, tells CNN. Stephen Leeb, president at Leeb Capital Management, says, "People are panicked but it's not the end of capitalism. This may usher in something worse than what we've seen in terms of the economy, but the companies left standing at the end of this will be OK." Phew! The last half hour of trading saw heavy selling despite Governor Paterson's effort to calm investors by letting faltering insurance company A.I.G. borrow $20 billion from its subsidiaries. And a group of 10 banks have given up to $7 billion each to create a $70 billion lending pool to help smaller institutions.

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  • books

    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...

  • NannyState

    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.

  • ides_of_march

    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.

  • takethecanoli

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

    The music always stops.

  • Future Taliban

    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....

  • Ben Affleck

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

  • Shinobi Shaw

    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!

  • chuzzlewit

    hello and welcome New Poor People!



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

  • cucarachita

    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.

  • Kojak

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

  • everyAframe

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

  • west side Michael

    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"!

  • the3rdbridge

    WWIII

  • Billiamsburg

    FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!

  • Snoopy

    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?

  • eyekantspel

    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.

  • blablanyc

    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.

  • duggy

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

  • NannyState

    ^ 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.

  • babyhitler

    #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.

  • JacqueMehoff

    any comments from Bloomberg?

    I think I'm going to download Boiler Room.

  • Steven

    Greed is what drivers these investment banks and their employees. When it comes to money there is never enough to be made. You could earn a billion dollars in a year and still want more.

  • maryjr

    Simply put - history repeats itself, again and again. And after recovery it WILL happen again. Unfortunately, it is painful at present.

  • iralarry

    Are any of you really surprised by this economic debacle? Hey this is capitalism at its "all for me none for you" best. If we don't start immediately working for AMERICA rather than working for me, myself and I, we will find ourselves crushed and pounded into sand. Truly the epitome of the "ME generation" at its best and worst.

  • Fritzdecat

    Whats next? That can't be all the fireworks...something else has to implode before the years end, Anyone know what that might be?

  • Rose Zel Al B

    Greed got them bankrupt! who lends 100 times the money you don't have??

  • NannyState

    I don't think many Baby Boomers will be retiring anytime soon. These are the original douchebags that put their money in mutual funds and dot-com stocks. Believe me, they will be sweeping floors at Starbucks well into their nineties.



    And babyhitler, what does George W. have to do with the Hadron Collider in Switzerland? His last encounter with anything swiss was when he stole a Ricola cough drop from Condoleeza Rice.

  • Shinobi Shaw

    This is why Gen X and Y have to organize themselves to overthrow these old bastard boomers! The are going to retire in a few years yet we young people are stuck with this mess for who knows how long!



    It's time we take our country back from these crooks!

  • babyhitler

    George W. Bush is the gift that keeps on giving. I guarantee he's got an even greater parting gift come january. Hadron Collider malfunction anyone?

  • everyAframe

    If middle America's gonna put the Jesus people in again, I'll be offering a fresh commenting perspective from Stockholm or Berlin after November.

  • WestVillageVintage

    @matty

    What are you kidding? This is not the first time this has happened. If you're talking about some boomer CEOs with golden parachutes you'd be right... A lot of older people are right where you're at 20 years ago in the late 80's Take a step back and get a little perspective.

  • NannyState

    This is just another bump: WaMu, A.I.G., Citigroup, NationalCity, you name it, they are out in the sea waiting to wash ashore. And the idiots in Washington act like we don't need the banks anyway so the economy will keep growing. With what money? The Federal Government's after a reported $400 billion deficit? We lived it up and spent and spent and saved nothing. And then we borrowed to keep it up. Thankfully PB&Js are still cheap.

  • Mike B.

    Heavens, no, it's not the end of capitalism. That will be if we have to endure four more years of Republicans lining their own pockets at our expense. We'll all be hunter-gatherers then.

  • moonbeam

    Yet, somehow, McCain claims the economy is still strong.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igAmVs0cvY8&eurl=



    Then again, it wasn't long ago that he admitted he doesn't have a clue about economics.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr6bwMXaTYc&feature=related

  • matty

    It fucking sucks if you're just starting out in your career like I am. The boomers made all the money and now no one else can get a turn.

  • balutanski

    I hope everybody loses everything. I'm tired of working.

  • bagelman

    "People panicked but it's not the end of capitalism"



    too bad.

  • Felix Hoenikker

    Any jumpers?

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