Rolling US Economy Into The Shitbin Thread

oh please, please, please.

Jan 20.
And 8 weeks later. pic.twitter.com/Ms8fRt3Glo

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) March 14, 2020

In conclusion, the Dow Jones is a land of contrasts.

well, yeah, but the benefits themselves are derived from a set formula and it's entirely employer paid (other than those archaic contributory plans), so worst that happens is the trust gets severely underfunded and the company can't afford to fully fund it or fund it at all.

worst that happens is the employer is the government and due to underfunded pension plans, government services are cut in order to balance budgets resulting in increased poverty, homelessness, dangerous and decaying infrastructure, underfunded schools, and all the other problems facing American cities with financial problems in this day and age.

I know this isn't the ACAB thread but ... even in retirement, cops punish marginalized people -- because their pension obligations take away from city services for vulnerable populations (and yeah, normal people too)

I know cops are unpopular, because too many of them are racist pigs, but public employee pensions are a boon to millions of people who aren't cops and never were. Forcing everyone onto 401K plans basically force feeds the equities market like a Strasbourg goose, which is periodically killed and its liver made into pâte d' fois gras for rich people.

public employee pensions are a boon to millions of people who aren't cops and never were.

why yes! my father was a public school teacher and has a nice state pension. ... Maybe it's different in other parts of the country, but in California, many public employee pensions are funded at the state level, rather than the local level, which is less of a problem for individual cities because the burden is spread state-wide. Cops' pensions tend to be funded at the municipal level.

Cops also get paid way more than teachers, and their pensions are a lot higher as well.

My parents once were bitching to me about my brother who was being forced to retire early from the police department (because he fell down an elevator shaft, got tackled and screwed up his knee, had a heart attack at 39 so he basically was on desk duty (he is very, very not suited for anything desk related) and was expensive to insure). The big issue was that the dept was trying to pay out only a portion of his pension since he wasn't going to make it, just barely, to the full 20 years. My entire family is against anything remotely socialist except the stuff they benefit from directly. So of course I was unsympathetic to the argument that he deserved that money and it was his. I just kept questioning how much of the pension he had contributed to directly

WaPo: Federal Reserve slashes interest rates to zero as part of wide-ranging emergency intervention

um, wait, i can refinance a home with a 0% interest rate now?

ah, no of course not; that would benefit the wrong people i suppose

I wanna refinance every CEOs head with the back of my foot.

The Federal Reserve has always been of the banks, for the banks, from its inception. Don't expect socially responsible action, only action that preserves Finance, and more generally, FIRE.

Zero interest rates seems nice, until you discover pensioners depend on interest income to eat.

As I post this, per cnbc.com, Dow futures are down +1,000. It's going to be a bumpy day.

I really really wonder if/when they will close the market.

it completely seems like something that trump would pressure them to do.

He's good at talking about closing things and not staffing things

I am mad I didn't rebuy some things at the end of the day Friday. I stupidly thought maybe over the weekend things would look up. Completely ridiculous thought.

if action isn't taken re: mortgages/rent, lotta people gonna be ass out in a few weeks. esp if we lockdown like we finna do in a little bit.

https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-halts-evictions-one-week-rebny-pledges-90-day-moratorium

I really really wonder if/when they will close the market.

I'm baffled enough by all this--and clueless--to ask the same question. But I know the answer: because there are billions being made, or about to be made, by enough people to let it happen.

I don't think they would close the market. Maybe they'll suspend floor trading for health reasons.

yeah i was thinking logistically or really, because it makes Trump sad to see his stock market go down. I had to look up how many days the nyse was closed after 9/11.

One thing I'm going to remember from this meltdown (just thinking aloud--compared to the real economic devastation happening and on the way, I'm fine): how the broker I got involved with reacted vs. how my bank reacted. The broker, second or third day into the slide, e-mailed to tell me what a great time it was to start buying more. Somewhere, far down the road, he may be right. Meanwhile, I'd met with the guy at the bank who handles my account a week earlier, and he was going to do some stuff with some money I had in a savings account, after he contacted me for final approval. The slide started, I didn't notice any changes to my account, and when I contacted him, it was what I thought; he thought it was wise to wait until everything settled down.

Telling difference.

(Should mention that I responded to the broker's e-mail with a quick "Uh, I think I'll stay where I am" response, so I at least dodged that.)

Zero interest rates seems like they're still misdiagnosing the problem, or like they don't know what to do about the real problem so they're just grabbing for any lever. People want stability and assurance in a very concrete way that things are going to be ok, not just giant pots of cheap money. Is anyone really looking to borrow or spend a huge amount of money right now?

(Of course I'm sure it will benefit a certain number of speculative grifters.)

Double digit unemployment by the end of the year.

Closing the markets does feel like something trump is dumb enough to try, but difficult to think of something more likely to trigger a run on retail banks.

the 0 interest rate is good

Is it?? We already did that for a long time. It just uhhhh resulted in a lot of terrible Silicon Valley startups

no it has nothing to do with the number of sillicon valley start-ups, it resulted in lots of people getting jobs. many more would have, and would have done so sooner, if they had kept it at 0 for longer, or let the real rate go negative by increasing the inflation target

They should just send everybody like eight grand

lots of unconventional tools will be considered and maybe some will be used. i wouldn't count on helicopter drop as it requires coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities, and trump is currently itching to fire powell. but the first unambiguous conventional thing to do is cut rates to zero, and it's good that they did that

I don't think they would close the market. Maybe they'll suspend floor trading for health reasons.

― o. nate, Sunday, March 15, 2020 10:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Supposedly every few years the exchanges say "You know, we don't need to physically be on Wall Street anymore." Then NYC gives them the concessions they want. Rinse and repeat.

I don't know if the current trading floors are literally maintained to give CNBC a dramatic backdrop. But I do assume that if they had to shut down the physical locations all parties would be able to switch remote and virtual operations by the next opening bell.

xpost, in general Financial Advisors are pretty terrible. The really really good ones are so good that they do private wealth management/only take on super high net worth individuals. I'm sure there are decent ones that serve the general public but...it's a lot of work to find one you trust.

i had a job once where I would just fight with financial advisors all day long. They all wanted to do shady stuff and did not understand simple ethics.

down 10% already, god damn

White House Scheduling Update: The White House coronavirus task force briefing (which was scheduled for 10:30AM ET) will now be held at 3:30PM.

— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) March 16, 2020

lmao gonna try this again huh

umm guys

they just don't know how to stop.

sittin on caaaaaaaash

i am on the inverse etf/etn trip. And tvix. Oh I hate it. It burns to hold.

up 1200 points in a couple hours, working hard thank you!

hilarious that they are going to bailout the airlines.

I hate the airlines

airlines and financial institutions should've had enough in reserves for this type of scenario.

Spend the $50 billion the airlines want on trains instead, fucking leeches

omg trains and buses. yes.

for profit companies should never be bailed out by the government.