I don’t usually worry about it, but holy crap Batman, look at the economy!
Stock market:
Worst year opening since the Great Depression.
Housing Market:
The year to year foreclosure rise in measured in the 100% to 400% range!
The only time house prices have slipped this much is the Great Depression.
Only about half the ARM’s have reset themselves so far.
Savings Rate:
Since 2005, the savings rate has been NEGATIVE! This, surprise, has not happed
since the Great Depression. This means people are spending more than they are making.
Seeing a common theme here? They only time indicators have been this bad was the Great Depression.
That is really really not a good sign. After riding the 80’s stock boom, the 90’s internet bubble, and the 00’s Housing bubble, we are in for a hell of a correction.
Scary times. I don’t think lowering the interest rate or giving everyone a check for $1,000 is really going to fix it. The economy really needs a correction so the true value of the dollar is met again. It will be a rough ride. Japan had a recession for 15 years. The difference there is they were saving 15% to 25% of their paychecks. The US has been saving -5% for a few years now.
So, I hope you have been saving and have a fixed mortgage with no credit card debt. If you have been good, you should be fine. If not, like most Americans, I think many of our citizens are in for a rough ride. How long, I don’t know.