The Panic Of 2008

[kentuck]

It was just before Christmas. Wall Street was shaky. Employers were nervous. The entire citizenry was anxious and fearful. Even the animals were jumpy.

The unemployment figures that came out a couple of weeks before Christmas was only a barometer of the panic that would ensue just before the New Year. The report said that 573,000 people had filed for unemployment insurance the week before. This was the most since 1982, during Reagan's Recession. Or as Republicans like to say, "Carter's Recession".

Nonetheless, they had no idea of had bad it would be only 3 weeks later. In a rush to get the tax write-off, many companies laid off hundreds of thousands of workers in the last weeks of December. After the Republicans blocked the bailout, small by their own standards, it started a snowball rolling that no one could stop. History will judge harshly the last few weeks of the year, 2008.

[Turbineguy]

1. It's the sharp shock they need.

unfortunately.... the rest of us get it too.

[Raven]

2. Kentuck, as always, you nailed it.

I have been trying to put my thoughts about this into words this morning and then I saw your post. Some of these people are maniacs and we will suffer for it.