Though something should go to the millions of workers the car comanies let down.

What did the employees of all the failing banks get?

  haha, it's funny because it's true.

Although I agree with you, the Government of the United States will never let them fail ...

Back in 2005 GM had 1.5 times as many pensioners as it had employees and GM doesn't have a fully funded pension plan so these people are paid out of revenues. This is one of the core problems GM (and all American automobile manufacturers) have had over the past several years because (for their manufacturing costs) their cars are excellent vehicles but the high unfunded liabilities increase the purchase price of the vehicle to a level where it can't be competitive.

The government will not let these companies fail because when they do their (roughly) 1.5 Million retired (and near retirement) employees will be without a pension ...

Ok, my point was this crash is not any worse (so far) than the 1987 crash. We recovered from that just fine. We had a recession in 90-91, but we then made it to the 90's. The feds job is to minimalize the lows of the business cycle, they failed this time. It was be a bad recession, not a depression. If you look back at 1929 you will few similarities... the only common factor is market losses. (a in the 20's they did have isolated housing market crashes)

Recessions are a healthy portion of every ecconomy and without them investors don't incur the moral cost from taking on large foolish risks. Had the federal reserve not reduced interest rates to record lows to "minimize the lows" from the dot-com crash it is likely that we wouldn't have faced as large of a problem in the financial sector due to the collapse of the sub-prime lending market. It is the Federal Reserve's moronic secondary mandate to "minimize the lows of the business cycle" which has gotten us into the mess we're in today!

I knew this was coming, along with everyone else who listened to Dr. Ron Paul.

Nothing unexpected.

Today has not been any better...

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/10/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?postversion=2008101011

Stocks plunge again

Dow down 350 points, after tumbling almost 700 points in the first minutes of trade.

NEW YORK  (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Friday morning in volatile trade - the Dow erased most of its nearly 700-point loss at the open, only to turn lower again as the credit crisis intensified.

Credit markets remained tight, although short-term lending showed some improvement from recent days. Treasury prices fell, raising the corresponding yields. The dollar gained versus the euro and the yen. Oil and gas fell. Gold prices rose.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 370 points or 4.4% around two hours into the session. Within the first five minutes of trade, the Dow had plunged 697 points, falling below 7900 to its lowest level since March 17, 2003.

The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index lost 4.9% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 3.9%. Both major gauges had tumbled along with the Dow at the open.

Markets tanked Thursday, extending the Dow's losses over the last seven sessions to 2,271 points, or 20%, as panicked investors ditched stocks across the board.

That panic spread to global markets Friday, with the Japanese Nikkei tumbling 9.6% and European markets falling in afternoon trading. The global selloff kept the pressure on U.S. markets Friday.

"Fear is feeding upon itself and nothing the officials have done to this point seems to stem the tide," said Ryan Atkinson, market analyst at Balestra Capital.

A key measure of investor fear hit an all-time high: The CBOE Volatility (VIX) index, or the VIX, hit nearly 71 Friday morning.

Well, it is good news for IBM. But, retail? Retail spending is going down, especially in large retailers like department stores. Listen to this radio report: http://odeo.com/episodes/23465558-Retail-Spending-Down

So, retail IS going down and it IS an important leader. Now, lets look at what exactly is going on:

1) Dow tanking cause everyone is scared. You know, people were scared in 1929, that is why there was a sell off. When the marfket looks bad, fear s the number one sell off. Just because it is fear and panic that is driving this does not change the fact it is happeneing.

2) Credit crunch. Do you have any data showing most companies have large cash reserves? I remember people being suprised about how nintendo does because it is not normal in the industry. Most companies put money in investment and operations. Most DO NOT have large reserves. As they run out of cash they will have to close down. Why do you think GM is going to have to close some of its plants soon, even with good news from the volt? This will accelerte if nothing happenes to alleviate the credit cunch. Again, this is fear, which is the number 1 cause for market meltdown.

So how is this good news and how is this the same as 1987? Every economist I have heard says this is significantly worse than 1987. Are you disagreeing with them? I agree that investing now is a good idea in 401k, it is always good when employers match. But, the question is: how does this get fixed.

Not enough.

That's the problem. The banks should of been allowed to fail, and the non management personel who didn't make these dumbass decisions should of been taken care of.

When your friend gambles away all there money you have three choices.

1) Give them money.

2) Cut them off

3) Take care of their families bills since it's not their fault their provider is an idiot.

Me I support the 3rd road.

It's bullshit that stuff can be promised to you down the line completely, then it be taken away cause that money got gambled with.  It's a breach of contract.