Comments on: Crash and Burn 101: A Finance Professor’s Take on Our Economy

By: Jazelle Reed

Jazelle Reed — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:33:05 +0000

Precisely! You have done an excellent job at summarizing the events that have lead to the recent downslide of our economy and I love the metaphors you used, they really “hit home” for us college students.

By: zackpien

zackpien — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:16:17 +0000

Another amazing aspect to this entire financial fiasco is that the majority of people my age don’t seem to understand the true magnitude of what is happening. Everyone knows that the stock market and the economy as a whole is struggling but they don’t understand to any degree what is causing this or the possible effects on our lives. I must admit, even as a finance major I only have a superficial understanding of everything that is going on so it comes as no surprise to me that I have had numerous people say something along the lines of “Hey Zack you’re a finance major right, can you explain to me what’s going on with the stock market, it seems really important and I want to know what’s going on but I don’t understand any of the news coverage.” As a country we just need to have a better understanding of the basics of finance or else we will continue to get ourselves into trouble like we have right now

By: huali22

huali22 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:02:27 +0000

There is always a payoff after sweet. People in the U.S. know how to enjoy their lives when they have money and never think about their future. Now, there are more and more people consider about saving, because of the poor economy we have now. Is it too late to save? Or maybe this is just another start or a lesson that people in the U.S. should learn about how they should control their budget.

By: bs1999bs

bs1999bs — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:48:16 +0000

Sadly the US will drag many other countries down with it and in the process it allows China and a select few to rise with even more dominance. Given the Chinese track record on human rights, scams, fake, environmental disregard, etc this is scary.
In allowing the monetary system to drive unfettered for many years and in encouraging people to “spend up large”, often on junk, we in the Western World have handed China the World “on a plate”.

By: cdaviscpa

cdaviscpa — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:45:04 +0000

Good perspective. The consistent ability (or stupidity?) of the American consumer to spend beyond our means will make weathering this storm very difficult for the average family.

If you do not have savings you will get burned. Unfortunately we (families) are not too large to fail so any bailout will be too little too late for us.

Good Luck All!
Cliff Davis CPA

By: milescobbett

milescobbett — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:31:55 +0000

It seems as though Robert Kiyoskai may have been correct in his book Prophecy Theory…about a coming colapse…That is a bit scary… Have any of you read it? I Hope it is not comming to pass, but who knows?
Does anyone want to comment?

All my best,
Miles Cobbett

By: charlesthomas87

charlesthomas87 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:19:13 +0000

I can honestly admit that I am scared. I was born at the end of one financial crisis, but never really felt the impacts of something economically severe as of yet. Granted, this crisis hasn’t exactly reached the consumer per se, and I say that very loosely, which is acctually even more scary because consumers still feel complacent in their situation and are just waiting for the higher ups to do something about it.

My question is, what can we, consumers, do to help? Or at least protect ourselves from personal financial disasters?

By: rodbustam

rodbustam — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:47:41 +0000

This economic crisis will have global consequences and many countries are going to suffer from this as well. Hopefully our next leader is smart enough to start making some changes and taking this seriously. Our futures are going to be affected by this crisis and getting a job is going to get even harder.

By: mikemiranda113

mikemiranda113 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:27:43 +0000

I just read another article regarding the financial system mess prior to this one and it mentioned that although the financial crisis has been an issue, it has not had a significant effect on the rest of the economy yet. The prospects of an even larger economic crisis existing outside of the financial system could very much happen in the near future due to this credit mess. To make the situation even worse for the typical American person, the recent bailouts of major firms like AIG and Bear Sterns as well as the billions of dollars the government has already pumped into the situation, coupled with increases in military spending, will create major tax burdens for U.S. citizens in the future.

By: andrewrobinson01

andrewrobinson01 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:52:07 +0000

This article has put in perspective the magnitude of our economy’s situation. There seems to be numerous, compounding issues and factors which will come crashing down like a tidal wave on our financial system, if our leaders, corporations, and consumers do not take respondsibility for their financial wrecklessness. We all must address these issues and may have to cut back and take losses in order for the financial system to regain some footing to avoid crashing.

What I am most concerned about, especially for us finance majors, is how is this financial instability going to affect our job search and employment prospects?

With the influx of potential employees into the job market from Lehman Brothers and other financial firms, how much more difficult will it be to find a job post-graduation?