“In one way or another, this is the oldest story in America: the struggle to determine whether “we, the people” is a spiritual idea embedded in a political reality — one nation, indivisible — or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others.”–Bill Moyers
Tag: Dow Jones
May 13 2010
Utopia 21: The Red God Speaks
Oct 10 2008
What Are They Doing About All This?
cross posted from The Dream Antilles
The answer is Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Zero. They haven’t got a clue. They are going to let it all come down, however it comes.
Permit me some extreme grouchiness. And anger. And despair.
People I know were evicted today from their home in the wake of not being able to pay their mortgage. A long legal battle ended. They lost. The Sheriffs were there. There was the cliche, the spectacle of having the young children sit on the curb while the furniture was deposited on the lawn. I don’t have $30,000+ to loan them to stop it. Nor do their friends or family. And I don’t see Congress or anybody else stepping in to do anything about this. Maybe later on, when they’ve moved out and lost their home and are living somewhere else. Maybe then there will be some “relief.” For somebody else. I wish they lived in Chicago, but they don’t.
And then there’s this:
One Year of the DJIA
Oct 09 2008
Black Thursday
The stock market has just dropped 7.3%. So far this month, the Dow has fallen nearly 25%. In October 1929, it dropped 20%. The market has already exceeded the crash of 1929.
Don’t like relying upon the Dow? In the crash of 1987, the Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index dropped 20.5%. So far, in the last eight days, the S&P 500 is down 22%.
I have no words. The TED spread is an unbelievable 4.23 – over double the average of the last year, meaning that the premium to borrow money is so high that it is nearly impossible for any entity to do so. Nearly 1 in 6 homeowners – almost 20%! – owe more on their mortgage that their homes are worth.
This isn’t even supposed to be possible. Safeguards instituted after the crash of 1987 are supposed to stop trading entirely before these kinds of drops happen. It beggars belief.
Like I said, I have no words. But you need to pay attention to this. One day you’ll tell your grandkids about how you were there during the crash of 2008.
Feb 12 2008
Fox Business Network: Cause Of The Recession?
Dow Jones announced yesterday that it will be adjusting the components of its Dow 30 stock index. This is the first change since Dow Jones, parent of the Wall Street Journal, was purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, parent of Fox News and the recently launched Fox Business Network. The index will be replacing the Altria Group and Honeywell with Bank of America and Chevron. The result will be an increase in the weighting of financials and energy in the index.
It will be interesting to see the effect over time of these trades, but given the propensity of Murdoch to attempt to manipulate outcomes to his liking, one must wonder if there is a hidden purpose to these events. He has previously confessed to trying to shape the agenda on the war in Iraq. He also promised to make the FBN a business friendly network.
Murdoch’s machinations of late have not met with the success to which he is normally accustomed. Fox News is presently the slowest growing cable news network. FBN got off to a pathetic crawl. And I wonder if anyone else has noticed this sign of the Apocalypse: When the Fox Business Network launched on October 15, 2007, the Dow Jones had just hit its all-time high. Since then the markets have collapsed, diving 15% in the four months since FBN’s debut.
Coincidence?