Whatever happened to the old saw of "Neither a borrower nor lender be" ?
Is this a long over due course correction which will 'purify' the global banking system of wrong headed policies and practices, or an 'end times' melt down to dwarf the nineteen thirties? (that was global, too, ya know)
Stocks decline amid global worries credit crisis is spreading.
Investors around the world have come to the sobering realization that the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue plan won't work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets. Global banks, hobbled by wrong-way bets on mortgage securities, remain starved for cash as credit has dried up.
From down under at Australia to China to Korea to Japan, Asian markets slide down from credit crunch & lack of confidence (video link).
Forbes has the hard numbers for Asia this morning in the second half of this article, for those of you not fond of flash video with their cheesy intro commercials.
Things are not much better in Europe as the U.S. pork-a-rama bailout did little to assuage their credit crunch & lack of confidence. If it's anything markets hate, it's uncertainty. (video)
How about you? Is it time to gird your grid to weather a bumpy ride hoping to gobble up bargains on the other end? Or will you bail on the bailout to cash your stash in your mattress in order to be safe than sorry?
But if financial doomsday comes, will that paper be worth anything?
And I'll keep beating this horse 'cause I think it's a definite Santayana lesson.
