S&P downgrades US bond, but Adele is going country....so stay calm

I am iterating a constant stream of four lettered words right now. M#$%^# F#$%^r.

Well, at least my vocabulary has grown.

On a related note, it would seem to me that this unequivocably one of the worst things to happen to global finance and especially the little guy in the last 70 years. Millions to billions of people will wake up Monday to mutilated retirement savings and 401ks. People might lose their homes and people will definitely lose their livelihoods. Why the hell do I care that Adele wants to take up country music? CNN, yeeesh...get with it.

I hadn't intended for this blog to focus on global finance. I really just wanted to chat budget and pretty things and how to deal with bad bosses and low cost everything.

I don't think anyone needs to me to remind them of what most people can plainly see. We are still in tough times. I think a lot of us knew that these times were a lot tougher than we were led to believe.

That said, I felt it would be remiss if I didn't post the downgrade here....if not just as a reminder of what happens when someone thinks you can't pay the interest on your debt.

Market volatility: holy s$^% snacks

I'm trying to figure out of this was a joke. Above is a screen shot of two weeks of Dow data taken after market close today. Note how the blue line dives so far after July 29th, it actually dives off the chart.

Obviously this pic isn't accurate, because the market wasn't that volatile on July 29th. Since August 2nd, a lot of panic has generated. I guess it's a combination of things - the Euro debt (Italy in particular has experienced some insane market shaping happenings in the last 24 hours, including elected officials busting into rating agency offices and tossing the places around), the U.S. debt ceiling fight, the growth report have each triggered panic.....and panic, triggers more panic which leads to these extreme up and downs. It might be market contraction. It might be insanity. One thing is for sure, volatlity like this is not good for you or me.


I'm trying to find some deeper lesson in this insanity. I'm trying to remember how last July and August felt. The market dove back then, and people panicked. H's firm reduced hour allowances and started laying people off. I know things are worse now. I'm deciding how much of me I'm willing to give up to worry. I guess there is just something about gettin a lip split by the worst market crash in 70 years that makes this current contraction 3 years later seem like a slap across the face and drunken joke at the same time.

I'll be on the job market in a few months. H and I are down to one income now. All I can do is try to stick to our budget, reduce our debt, keep an eye on our stock holdings and wait this out. I'm pretty confident that the companies I've put money in will be okay in the end. That said, in the market can stay volatile longer than any company can stay liquid.

Americans finally care about the national debt

...or so it would seem. While I'm sitting here pondering what the remainder of my adult life might look like should it be spent in an economic depression and a little pi$$ed that we are facing a second severe economic crisis in three years, I'm choosing to see the Capitol Hill server crash as good news. Good. Give a s#$%. This matters.

Now what the hell are we going to do about it?