joflora wrote (View Post): › Put some onions with them and fry 'em up. That's about as good as it gets for me!

Good idea. I do have part of an onion. LOL

It is amazing, but the company I work for FreightCenter is up over last year in freight shipments. Shipping is something that must be done if a commodity based business is to survive. Maybe our low rates compared to the other freight logistics companies is the difference, or maybe it is our excellent customer service, not sure. There is one thing for certain, shippers can't afford to pay any more for shipping than need be. Hope we can all get through this. Good Luck.

WASHINGTON - Dusting off Depression-era emergency powers, the Federal
Reserve is extending its reach over the economy as never before,
pushing the limits of its authority, if not exceeding them.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27074536/

We Americans are in deep trouble. This is a total fiasco. The government now owns most of our mortgages and now the stock market. Google "Plunge Protection Team".

I could survive on veggies....however living with 3 'dudes' - nodda. They are meat eaters. I went to the grocery store this AM, and needed a ton of stuff. There are things that we buy that I know prices of - and several of these things were up $.50 on the buck...

I can say that based on some prices I saw today, I'll be baking some bread this week and also some cookies. It's a sad day when staples go up from $1 to $1.59 in less than 10 days (Lender's Bagels - onion).

Anybody ever made bagels before?

IMF: U.S. Will Slip Into Recession; Global Economy Will Slow

Severe turmoil in the credit and equity markets is rapidly quashing worldwide economic growth, and is set to throw the U.S. into a recession according to many market participants.

The International Monetary Fund said in a research paper Wednesday the economy is likely to contract in the third quarter, and into early 2009.

The IMF cites sagging real estate investments and deteriorating consumption as key reasons it expects the economy to contract. On the upside, the report says, booming exports will help damper some of the downturn. Other economic consultancies agree that the recent turbulence could throw the economy into a tailspin.

“The seizing up of global credit markets -- in conjunction with further deflationary pressure on asset prices -- poses significant downside risks to growth … in the United States,” said Global Insight Chief U.S. Financial Economist Brian Bethune.

The question, the research suggests, isn’t whether there will be a recession, but how deep the recession will be and how long will it take for the economy to recover.

Full Article:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/imf-slip-recession-global-economy-slow/

I saw this article earlier today among many others predicting the doom and gloom we have to look forward to. I'm wondering how many here at PSU have been directly hit with losses. Stocks? 401k? I was watching a news story this morning about a man that is/was close to retirement and has lost half of his 401K. For younger people that have 5 or 10 years their 401s should recover but this is disaster for the older citizens that are losing their savings they were counting on to live on in their golden years.

Recession versus Depression. I read somewhere that recession is when your neighbor loses their job and depression is when you lose your job.

"I'm wondering how many here at PSU have been directly hit with losses. Stocks? 401k?"

Although I was fortunate to move a big portion of my investment portfolios out of stocks and into T-Bills when the second wave of the financial mess hit (AIG bailout), my remaining stock positions took a hit of approximately 45%.

IMHO it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Sorry to hear about that loss mongoose. It's just criminal. Speaking of that...AIG is getting more money after that $400,000 spree the execs went on. OMG! We need to stop looking at right and left and start looking at right and wrong!

Fed gives AIG $37.8 billion in aid
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/09/business/09insure.php

AIG gets huge bailout then execs go on lavish vacation spending $400,000 on golfing, spa treatments and expensive meals. Now they get more money??!!!??? WTH?

AIG Gets More Government Bailout Cash

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2008/10/government_to_give_aig_more.html?hpid=topnews

WTH? WTH? This is unfrikkin' believable!!

I lost absolutely nothing aside from a little profit in slippage on the exits....


I am far better off today than I was before the Sept mess....


In the rest of life everything is far more expensive and that nags at me daily. I hate paying for fuel - I sold several high performance vehicles right before gas broke over mid $2 and am damn glad I did it...


I can't sell a thing to save my life on ebay, and in regular business...nobody is buying....maybe mid 09 as companies prepare for early 2010 - from what I hear they have completely already WRITTEN off 09 as a loss....


If Obama gets elected I fear a snowball effect that will extend this predicted 18 month window well into the future......

Looks like the people in Hong Kong are upset about things and taking it to the streets.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1008/hongkong.html

I took some hits and am not thrilled about it. However, I am one that (God willing) will ride it out in the hopes of recovery.

My parents are in the 70(s) and already are retired. I've not yakked with them yet, but am hopeful that they made some changes to their portfolio a bit ago.

The whole AIG thing is a fiasco +. Questions that come to my mind:

Why is the leadership team still employed?
Why isn't the leadership team facing legal charges?
When will WE (America) learn to hire real leaders vs. the politically correct popular person?
Who qualifies the borrower for all these 'loans' from the government?

Urgh - it will be another interesting day for the market.

eBichin wrote (View Post): › If Obama gets elected I fear a snowball effect that will extend this predicted 18 month window well into the future......

Wait, hold up just a second. IIRC Obama was the one warning of this disaster before it happened while McCain was calling for deregulation and deregulation is what caused this mess.

Further if one of them knows how to make $$ it's Obama who came from a single parent home with no money to become a millionaire while McCain has probably never had to balance a checkbook in his life. Now who do you think can balance the budget? The guy who can make money or the guy who probably can't balance a checkbook?

Granted who ever it will be will have one of the biggest struggles any recent president has had to face and will have the weight of the world on their shoulders so to speak. I for one believe obama can tackle not only this economic situation we are in but also greatly improve our respectability world wide.

It amazes me that so many people can see what is currently going on and what faces us down the road, and they have general concerns as to what is going to happen, then on the other hand they want to elect Mcain and Palin to run the country, that to me is just the most insane notion to have, the country is in the position it is in because of bad choices made politically, BUSH?? are you kidding me? the republican party?? you have got to be kidding me.

I pray to God that Palin and Mcain do not take over the country, and even a more horrid thought than that is God forbid something happened to Mcain, then we have Sarah palin as the President....Absolutely not..

There is one choice that will help bring this country on the right path.
Make the right choice, not just for your pockets, but for your childrens futures as well

Personally I think if you were already having a bit of a tough time LAST year, you have had a leg-up on the belt tightening and are more prepared for what looks like the economy is heading.

If your world was going "full steam ahead" and you were spending tomorrow's money today, you may be in for a big shock.

It's going to take a total change of attitude for a lot of people. Don't spend what you don't have IN HAND.

JMO,
Carol