I’m watching the Today show, and Suze Orman is on, and she actually says, “You should have some cash on hand, in case you go to the ATM and it’s out of money.” In reference to the whole financial meltdown thing. Now she went on to say that a stash of cash is helpful in any emergency, such as a hurricane evacuation, etc, but she was referring to the current financial crisis. You know, for when credit cards don’t work and there’s a run on the banks, etc.
I was thinking it was rather apocalyptical, but as the day unfolded, I’m thinking, it could happen. It could happen if the market isn’t artificially corrected via the government, absolutely. A sister of a friend got a corporate email today offering early retirement to those who qualified, 30 minutes after the market closed.
Here’s the thing though–I think the bailout (it pissed me off when Pelosi called it a buy-in–buy in to what?? Toxic loans? Sign me up!) just delays the inevitable. A country a trillion dollars in debt takes on billions more in bad loans. To think that that won’t have implications and ramifications is naive. I don’t know how it would shake down, exactly, but I don’t see how taking on a bunch of bad assets can be without consequences. And, by taking on the bad assets so that granting credit can resume, well, gee, don’t you think enough credit has already been extended?
I really hope that my grandmother doesn’t actually have to experience two Great Depressions. (what would they call this one? the Greatest Depression? Depression 20.08?)