Dow what?

The Dow dropped 700 points in one day recently and another large investment bank just declared that they were about to go under.  I am no economy-buff but this is going to effect ALL of us. 

We've all heard about the working-class family-man whose construction job no longer exists, not to mention his health insurance; the family who too-eagerly took on an interest-only mortgage a few years ago and now their payments have tripled.  We remember Enron.  Lehman Brothers folded.  Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have admitted to overextending themselves in the same casual tones that I once I did as an early twenty-something who bounced a check to the hair-salon.  What are we to think when these large financial companies admit to basically screwing up the checkbook while their hands were in the cookie jar?  I can't believe I ever took the existence of these things for granted. 

 

I never thought my 401K and IRAs would be at risk. What do I do if our life insurance company joins them and goes the way of the Dodo?  I am in the process of filling out forms to start a 529 for my infant son and I have actually wondered if maybe I should wait for better times.  Will I ever have the financial security I had during the Clinton administration, or even a few years ago?

For a little background: I graduated from GWU with a degree in American Studies.  I took one Economics class.  And I withdrew. Because otherwise I would have failed.  In all fairness I was at the time, boy-crazy and dumb and I just didn't study enough. With the right amount of effort I could have mastered those supply-demand graphs, I'm sure.  Fast forward to now, as a stay-at-home-mom with a decent working knowledge of government, democracy and some Econ-For-Dummies, this recent nationwide economic downturn has me a little scared. And not just about the price of milk. (Although that's an issue in itself.) I am actually anxious and worried over something I always thought was as solid as a rock.  I feel sheepish for losing sleep over this but this is MY FAMILY and OUR FUTURE.  I even feel angry at the CEOs who caused these problems and allowed them to snowball for so long.

There are five homes, that I know of in my neighborhood that are mucked down in some unkempt overgrown-weed stage of foreclosure.  My neighborhood is small.  And modest.   Political debates can get my blood boiling but this is different, I feel actual fear about this. Nobody wins when this many of us are losing.

I'm not much of a flag-waver but I like my country just the same. Growing up I was taught that we have freedoms and rights that are not to be taken lightly.  Until this week, financial security on a national level was something I took for granted.

I did pay attention long enough in History class to learn that there are cycles, great cycles and cycles within cycles.  To have a boom you have to have a bust ... but right now?  I don't have much trust.