Dow down 5.6%, -634 pts on the close.
Markets are expressing thier fear of our S&P downgrade by...
having 10 yr Treasuries drop to 2.33%!
The only time they were lower in modern history was in the very depths of Dec 08 when they fell to 2.0%. Gold shot to 1720/oz. Everyone is fleeing to safety.
If the sell-off continues, maybe we can get our debt funding down to free.
How many more margin calls and fund redemptions are out there?
Some may say we should take advantage of those historically low rates, at
very little yearly cost, to fund a
real jobs program to put people to work, improve our old and crumbling infrastructure, get some money in worker's hands so they have something to spend and have something for businesses to sell and bother to have workers to produce. Let alone provide better transportation so workers can get to jobs faster and businesses can move goods to markets more quickly and cheaper and become more competitive.
Then again that's crazy talk. The Responsible People say its better to turtle up and hide until the bad stuff goes away. Not like we have any old bridges or anything else collapsing and in need of repair. Oh wait..
Or blown up by Mean Momma Nature:
Else we could just sit on our hands, keep cutting and firing and laying off people in a continuous death spiral until everyone is so freaked out, pissed off, crazy and in despair that WW3 breaks out and we can start putting all that stockplied ammo to good use. Then we can borrow a ton of money from ourselves, put a bunch of the surviving people to work in factories and watch GDP skyrocket as we obliterate our enemies and enjoy our new found wealth after the nuclear ashes settle and peace breaks out in the blackened hellscape that would surely come.
I mean that's the more expensive and painful way out of it. I'd rather just build bridges, but kinda wonder if its not going to go one way or the other.