Seeing as my bank failed last week (Woo... Who?), I had to find a new one. There have been some old-timers who’ve suggested the recession-proof Bank of the Drawer or Coffee Can Mutual, but they don’t offer debit cards and setting up direct deposit requires a shovel. So I'm still looking.Then on Monday, during my search, I watched the stock market's spectacular high dive. I believe it garnered an 8.6 (points off for the hard landing). I'll admit, it made me a little nervous. But when I turned to CNN and noticed that Suze Orman had stopped smiling, I dug up my recipe for shoelace soup.
Honestly, I'm not even going to pretend that I understand how the stock market works. It seems very mystical. As I see it, someone rings a bell and people in a hole wearing power suits start waving wildly. Maybe they throw some paper on the ground for good measure. If they wave just the right way- happiness! If they are off game and waving in a sub par manner, they can lose 1.2 trillion dollars in a day... like it was a set of (very expensive) keys.
Okay, that's not exactly true. The wavers can't do it by themselves. They need a hand. Bad loans and greed, like a Michael Douglas/Charlie Sheen combo, stepped up to fill that role. But tonight congress is going to step in and try to pass a bailout measure to fix this mess. Of course, last time they tried to fix this mess, Monday happened. Cross your fingers.
posted by jw
