Limping towards the 3-day weekend, I'd bet against a government induced cooling-off. On the other hand, they've tried everything else, so it might be a safe bet. Hum ... risk either way.

Well, apparently the smart thing to do is to bet on both, using credit, collect the bets and debts into vehicles, do some debt-to-equity swaps to pay off creditors, securitize whatever is in that box ("collateral"), hype the market for my securities, mark-to-market, and sell it off. Take the money and walk away; who cares what happens, that's someone else's problem (i.e. the market's).

It seems to me that a deflation scenario will eventually become a problem. Sadly many people are really unprepared for the difficulties associated with a real economic slowdown. Most Americans do not have a cash nest egg and the simple pleasures we are so used to may quickly become extravagances. It should be recognized that we got here because so many people were convinced(primarily conservative government and media) that spending and borrowing without restraint could go on forever. Almost certainly they will act with greed discretion and citizen distrust. The day of reckoning has arrived.

Selfishness and carelessness got us into this mess. My hope is that rather than each person selfishly acting to protect their own self-interests at the expense of others, we will draw closer together as a community and offer each other support. Maybe that's a naive hope but it's a hope nonetheless.

Over at the O, they've got an article on fear and the markets. It quotes the author of a book called "America's Financial Apocalypse". I checked it out at Amazon and found this review:

"A chilling but accurate expose of how we came to be in such economic peril as a capitalist nation. ... The author draws upon his many years of experience and expertise as a business, financial, and investment consultant for two of Wall Street's largest investment firms and elsewhere in private financial markets. Strathis provides an impressively analytical explanation as to how the liberals on the left and the conservatives on the right are working in differing ways to destroy America's fiscal and economic well-being; how the federal government in Washington is dominated by corporations; how China has taken total advantage of America's trading policies to our nation's detriment. Readers will be shocked to learn how America is legally bankrupt; how today the 'American Dream' cannot be achieved by most American citizens; the truth concerning the future of Social Security; the inevitable and looming consequences of the present pension plan crisis; and why most Americans working today will not be able to retire as their parents were able to in the past. "America's Financial Apocalypse" also addresses just how the American government manipulates economic data; how the Bush administration is responsible for the worst economic recovery in American financial history; how the real estate bubble could cause the stock and bond markets to collapse; how America's political and economic fate is in the hands of foreign countries; why the American government is really allied to the Saudi Arabians despite the established identities of the 9/11 attack; the looming global oil crisis; Alan Greenspans dismal performance as a Fed Chairman; the plummeting value of the dollar in the international currency markets; and the continuing rise in value of precious metals and oil. After laying out all of these 'inconvenient truths' about America's economic future, Strathis also lays out how the wise and savvy investor can still profit from an inevitable depression that will collapse America's economy in the very near future. --Midwest Book Review"

Oh, wait a minute. I just read that George W. Bush is going to make a statement tomorrow to calm the people.

Thank God! That should make everything okay.

"... Bush is going to make a statement tomorrow ...."

He could reduce his fear-dump, and less panic people, if only he makes a simple statement (for the first time) in English. Or American, if he could speak American just once. I mean, it's sorta the national language, big time, major league, and he is so unfamiliar with it. He speaks in pigeon bar slur.

George W. Bush is going to make a statement tomorrow to calm the people.

Anything the federal government does now is going to make people panic more.

FEMA sources confirm coming martial law, by Wayne Madsen, Global Research, October 9, 2008.

WMR [Wayne Madsen Report dot com] has learned from knowledgeable Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sources that the Bush administration is putting the final touches on a plan that would see martial law declared in the United States with various scenarios anticipated as triggers. The triggers include a continuing economic collapse with massive social unrest, bank closures resulting in violence against financial institutions, and another fraudulent presidential election that would result in rioting in major cities and campuses around the country.

In addition, ...

"... massive social unrest, ...violence against financial institutions,..rioting in major cities and campuses around the country"

And your problem is??

Or should rioting be left unchecked until it degenerates into roving death squads?

Tensk - I have no idea what you really think since you mainly find the wierdest quotes you can and post them.

I hate to say this, but people with the most reason to riot (ie big money losers) are probably the least likely to do so - Unless you've seen a rich anarchist.

If in all of your quotes, you find something positive to contribute, love to hear it, I can hear bad news all day on a normal day.

"primarily conservative government and media) that spending and borrowing without restraint could go on forever."

I don't think Bush ever vetoed a spending bill from a democratic congress yet and everything I hear from Obama is more spending and then less taxes for 95% of the people. In addition, if you look at Cali that has been a Democrat/liberal state forever and they are looking into a huge hole.

I'm not saying conservatives are innocent, but painting them as the cause really takes the spotlight off politicians who regardless of party seem to take spending beyond their means as a god-given right. That works at all levels from Vera/Sam on up.

When the market shorts you, you can short the market.

It's pretty obvious so far this week that whatever the Treasury and Fed are doing; it's not doing anything to stop the stock market's slide. It doesn't help that many economists now state what many of us already suspected; that the USA has been in a recession since the start of the third quarter.