Yesterday was not a good day for the economy, the markets, the United States or, for that matter, the rest of the world. As the Dow dropped more than 500 points, we said goodbye to Lehman Brothers. In related news, Merrill Lynch was traded to the Bank of America for a bologna and cheese sandwich, a can of orange Faygo, and a fun-size Snickers bar. The state of the market was not good.For his part, President Bush handled the crisis as well as he's handled other crises -- poorly, by trying to BS his way through it. Americans, Bush said, "are concerned about the adjustments that are taking place in our financial markets." See, it's an adjustment, a tiny bump in the road, a little minus-500-point tweak.
Associated Press:
...He said that his administration is focusing on the problem and "working to reduce disruptions and minimize the impact of these developments on the broader economy."
Bush also said he was pleased with work done so far by the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and major financial institutions to "promote stability" in financial markets shaken by the bankruptcy declaration by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America.
He acknowledged that such convulsive developments can be "painful for people" directly involved. But Bush also said, "In the long run, I am confident that our capital markets are flexible and resilient and can adjust to these developments."
Of course, as economist John Maynard Keynes so famously pointed out, "In the long run, we're all dead." While it's nice to keep an eye on the future, we live in the present and the present presently sucks. The concerns are immediate, not forecasted...
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