With the stock market taking it’s largest 1 day hit ever, many in Washington are fearing an all out economic collapse. Personally I feel the drop is somewhat deserved. After all, weren’t most consumers involved in the housing bubble or credit crisis somehow? Aren’t most of us charging increasing amounts of money we don’t have to credit cards? Aren’t more people buying more mortgages they can’t afford? The answer to all of these is yes. Both consumers and wall street are to blame for this economic scenario.
Ultimately though there will be some type of government involvement, though how much it will cost taxpayers and how deep nationalization of the financial sector will go still remains to be seen. Lawmakers and Congressmen are all scrambling to find a solution after the first proposed bailout failed to pass by a narrow margin. I’d imagine we’ll see a modified version of the original bill or a new initiative within a week, especially given the increasing amount of pain being felt in the markets. Consumers, for their part, are desperately scrambling for their own reasons, like credit repair and saving to keep up with tightening lending standards by banks and other financial institutions.
It’s an interesting time to be alive, to be sure!