I'm Scared

[MadBadger]

And I dont know why....this has ntohing to do with the election, and everything to do with Wall St. I'll admit, I'm not some financial genius. I'm much like McCain; I dont know much about the economy. BUt at this point in my life, a senior in college, The DOW is having no immediate impact on me personally. But I look at those numbers, as the DOW goes below 8,000, and it scares me. I'm scared that things are spiraling out of control and nobody has any answers to it. We are seeing all these comparisons to what happened in the thirties, and its hard to imagine things being like that, but there is a part of me that is scared about that.

I just watch these numbers, and I'm scared because I have no idea what this means, just that things are real real bad.

[WeDidIt]

1. Prepared to be more scared

As corporations start evaluation their revenues from last quarter, reductions in force will become commonplace as a means for reducing cost. It's all going to come down to how long the company directors believe the downturn will last vs. how loong they can hold out.

Expect unemployment to soar.

[Mother Of Four]

2. You're not alone -

Many are scared. I am too.

:hug: for you.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. The antics of the frothing McCain/Palin mobs is at this point contributing

to the sense of economic dread. They are creating the spectre of a collapse of civil society, precisely the thing that scares the shit out of everybody in a time of economic peril. McCain needs to put country first and get his people back in line. We can have an election without stoking the resentments of the mob. He's really dropping the leadership ball hard and irrevocably here.

[MadBadger]

6. No...not at all.

Honestly, this has absolutely nothing to do with the election.

[azmouse]

4. Honestly, I'm scared too.

I'm 47. I'm seeing all the money my husband and I worked so hard for being wiped out.

But take heart. My grandparents lived through the Depression. They survived. We will too.

[Lasher]

18. I had a self-imposed threshold for my IRA

When my losses got to that point I sold every single share of stocks and now I'm totally in money market, riding it out. I don't believe this is the bottom.

[Danieljay]

5. Go out for a walk. Its out of your control and watching will do nothing but create more fear.

Go play.

[AzNick]

7. Chill out... you must be on Singulair

Don't jump out of the window yet, ok?

The world will not explode, you will not lose everything and you will survive.

[AlCzervik]

8. You're so not alone.

and it will impact everybody.

[insanity]

9. Another College Senior

and I'm fucking terrified. I don't know if I'll be able to afford grad school anymore. I don't know if I'll even find a job.

[soleft]

10. Well, my parents are 85 years old.

They both weathered the great depression. My Mom grew up on a farm, and my and grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. My dad fought in WWII, and my mom left the farm at 18 and went to work in the Pentagon during the war. He went to college after the war, she worked til she married him and then stayed home.

I think it was bare bones growing for them, but then after the depression, and a major war, and the Cold War, and 8 years of Bush, they're still here, in pretty decent shape for their age. They both had great lives.

Me, I'm forty five and figure I have 20 years before retirement - My son is a sophmore in college, I think he's worried, but optimistic.

Hopefully things will get better. They have in the past, I think they will again.

Odds will be greatly improved if Obama gets elected.

[crankychatter]

11. Rockefeller did VERY well during the last Depression.... good time to BUY

see?

it's not ALL bad

:-)

[smoogatz]

33. Assuming it's a deflationary depression.

Not so easy to buy if there's a depression AND hyper-inflation, as in Weimar Germany. An inflationary depression is actually the more likely outcome now, because our national debt AND trade imbalance are so enormous. Sooner or later we're going to have to start printing money to keep the flow of imported goods coming into the country and pay the interest on our debt: then, watch out.

[crankychatter]

36. you're the reason I love DU

thanks

[sandnsea]

12. Don't worry. This Too Shall Pass.

You've got your whole life ahead of you. Even during the Depression, 75% of people didn't lose their jobs. Many of us have lived through the late 70's and 80's, when unemployment often creeped up to 10% and interest rates were 15%. We made it. You'll make it. You'll focus on friends and family, and be the better person for it anyway.

[Barack_America]

19. My mother's very favorite saying.

I often heard her muttering it under her breath during my teenage years. ;)

And very, very true.

[Meshuga]

13. I am a father and a husband and I am really scared

for our portfolio, savings, and for everthing my wife and I worked for. :-(

[Virginia Dare]

21. I know, I think I'd rather be a college senior right now..

than middle-aged, like I am. I've lived through two recessions now, but something tells me this will be much worse...:scared: I'm glad I've been paranoid about the economy crashing for the last few years, at least I've done some prep work for it financially.

[greguganus]

14. What's your major? I hope it's not in finance. n/t

[MadBadger]

15. Thank god I hate math.

Its communications and history. My friend was a finance major...luckily for him he decided last year to double in accounting.

[Barack_America]

16. You can't control it, so don't bother worrying about it.

Just focus on what you're going to do when you graduate. Now would be a great time to consider graduate school over jumping into the workforce.

And plan for the very real possibility that you'll have to provide, at least in part, for your parents after they retire. But even that isn't an awful thing. Think of how close they will be to your family, if you choose to start one.

If you don't place too much importance on materialistic things and plan to live your life simply and sensibly, you'll come out of this just fine...probably ahead, in fact.

[MadBadger]

22. I'll tell ya...Obama helps a lot

seeing him do so well makes me feel a little better.

[AtomTan]

34. Best advice I've seen all day

"If you don't place too much importance on materialistic things and plan to live your life simply and sensibly, you'll come out of this just fine...probably ahead, in fact."

People will either learn they can live happy, full lives without iPhone and Wii, or even -- gasp! -- grad school ... or they will not survive.

[Barack_America]

35. .

Thanks! :hi:

But grad school isn't necessarily a luxury. Many people actually get paid for going to grad school (via fellowships or teaching assistantships). It's actually a relatively safe form of employment in an economic downturn. You're not going to make much money, but your funding is likely secure and your degree is an investment in future earnings. I'm actually in grad school now and if I were employed, doing the same thing, in the private sector, I'd likely be laid off by now.

[Virginia Dare]

17. Normal reaction, we're all scared to a certain degree..

it's partly fear of the unknown, as you say nobody is really sure what all of this means, we just know it's bad.

Take heart though, I graduated from college in the midst of a recession. It really sucked for a few years, but it got better. I survived. You will too.

You will be better off than most of us learning how to make do in really hard times when you're still young and have your entire furture ahead of you, at least you're not supporting a family right now...:hi:

[Vilis Veritas]

20. I'm going camping...

No TV, No Radio, No media at all...for an entire weekend.

See DU later...;-)

[greguganus]

26. Now THAT sounds like a plan! n/t

[peace13]

23. Know that this is pure manipulation. It will stop when they want it to.

I guess we should have given them the one half of Social Security for Wall Street and the off shore drill leases that they wanted. My guess is they would have taken all of that AND anything that we had in the bank. *Co is nothing but thieves. That is all.

[elkston]

24. Eventually, a bottom will occur and the market will recover.

The truth that nobody really wants to say is that there is no "PERFECT FIX" for this problem.

We must let the markets stabilize and fix themselves, then install the proper oversight so this never happens again.

In the meantime, move any non-retirement type investments into savings or checking accounts to be safe.

[Peacetrain]

25. You and Me and alot of other people.

We are in territory that is totally untested..and we are going to be okay in the long run.. But it is scary.. every step is a new step and is there a bobby trap under that next step..

[grasswire]

27. you can take control of your fears by learning how to do things

This is the time when you could learn some extra skills that might serve you well all the rest of your life. Gardening, home repair, cooking, auto repair, fishing, or even the ways of thrift and small living.

Yes, our lives are going to change. A lot of the ways of coping with modest means are unknown to younger generations. But the literature is out there. You can learn to do what you must.

A good motto: Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

[izquierdista]

28. We know the solution

The answers are out there: public works programs, market regulation, government backing up debt markets. But Republicans don't like those answers (except the last one, they can make money on that one), so don't expect anything from them. Barack's plans all along would boost the economy; now they are the ONLY way to boost the economy. It all depends on how quickly he moves after the Inauguration.

My father had to drop out of college due to the Depression, but he eventually got a good job (a Government job) and did well. A depression might be just the thing to cure the culture of greed that has ruled since Reagan and Gordon Gekko poisoned things in the '80s. People will learn that money is just a means of exchange and not an end in itself. They will learn not to take out debt. My parents didn't have any credit cards until 1969, when we had an auto breakdown on a holiday weekend. After that, they got a credit card, just in case of emergencies. Other than that, the Depression taught them that cash was king and not to go into debt unless you absolutely had to. I don't think either one of them ever borrowed money to buy a car; they saved up until they could pay cash.

People will go back to bartering. I believe my grandfather charged a sack of potatoes to make a house call when nobody had any money.

At least today, all the problems are in debt, notes, and securities, not bank deposits. With the FDIC and the SIPC around, you don't have to pull your paper money out of the bank or brokerage and keep it under the mattress or buried in the back yard.

But most of all, don't be afraid. Go listen to some of Roosevelt's speeches that are on YouTube. Not all of the protections he put in place have been yanked away by the Republicans. They will make it easier to recover this time around.

[TEXASYANKEE]

29. Having a Dem President will help a lot.

Use your fear to motivate yourself to learn all you can about how to wisely invest and save.

I'm another upper-40s worker who has watched her 401k plummet. I hate this. I hate that this Repub President has destroyed all the gains we Americans made under Bill Clinton. But I know that eventually the markets will stabilize, and with a Dem in the Oval Office, gains will be made once again. Hang in there.

[David__77]

30. Don't be scared. We'll rebuild the country better than ever!

From the rubble of the old rancid financial system a new, better one can emerge. This is a much richer country than in 1929. Will people suffer, yes; but not like the 1930's.

[renie408]

31. I have moments of scared. But over all, I am taking it one day at a time. n/t

[smoogatz]

32. You have good reason to be scared.

Two ways this crisis will affect you directly: first, good luck getting additional student loans any time soon. The credit markets are still gridlocked as the banks play a wait-and-see game and refuse to lend to one another for fear of making bad loans to insolvent banks. Second, your parents have just lost about half of the value of their 401Ks/IRAs from the Dow's high of a year ago. So, unless they've put all their money in treasury bonds or gold bullion, they're not exactly feeling flush—and they're wondering if they shouldn't sell out of the stock market altogether and put the remaining cash under the mattress. So if you were hoping Mom would buy a new car and give you her five-year-old Lexus, forget it--you'll be lucky if they help you out with your textbooks next semester. In fact, you may want to start putting aside a little bit of cash now, because if things get much worse (and they may, in fact, get MUCH worse), there's a good chance you'll be supporting your parents in their retirement, depending on how old they are. The good news for you, as a young person, is that stocks long-term will represent an excellent buying opportunity if the Dow gets down to the 3-5,000 range, which is where it seems to be heading.