May you live in interesting times – Got That Right!
While I have no idea if this phrase is really Chinese, it's certainly true of working in the Banking industry these last two months. The Dow has taken a beating that I haven't seen in a very long time: (image from Google Finance)
I worked in the Chicago Board of Trade on the morning of 9/11 and remember everything about that morning and how we ended up leaving the building and the masses of people in downtown Chicago. It was something I hope I don't experience again - for a great many reasons, but especially because of what it did to the collective conscience of the American people.
So here we are, many years later, and greed - plain and simple got us, as a nation, and therefore, a world, into this pickle. I'm glad to see that the markets are working. I have faith in the smarts of the traders I work with, and others like them. They are going to price things reasonably again and be a little smarter in the future about these grouped debt instruments.
I do not support McCain's statement at the second debate about having the government buy up the mortgages, work with the owners to re-value the homes down and then re-finance at this new level - all so they can stay in their homes. Good if you're in a house you could not afford, and now you'll be able to. But bad for the rest of us that didn't get into debt trouble because we lived within our means. Bad idea, McCain.
Let the markets work. It'll get us through this. It always does.