The Mess On Wall Street: Four Trillion Dollars Down The Drain by Erick Schonfeld on September 16, 2008 October 7, 2007 September 12, 2008 The collapse of so many major financial institutions in the past year, and over the past few days especially, is hard to fathom in its enormity. Sometimes you need a good visual to put things in perspective. The New York Times has an interactive graphic up on its site that pretty much says it all. It shows that $4 trillion has been wiped off the total market capitalization of the U.S. stock market since last October. Of that, nearly $1 trillion is from the decline in the financial sector alone. Each box in the graphic is proportional to the size of the market capitalization of the biggest financial firms then and now. As you mouse over the squares, you can see how much each value each company lost between October 9, 2007 and September 12, 2008. Here are some of the individual losses by market cap: Citigroup: $236.7 billion to $97.8 billion. Bank of America: $236.5 billion to $150.2 billion. AIG: $179.8 billion to $32.3 billion Goldman Sachs: $97.7 billion to $61.3 billion American Express: $74.8 billion to $45 billion. Morgan Stanley: $73.1 billion to $41.1 billion. Fannie Mae: $64.8 billion to $700 million. Merrill Lynch: $63.9 billion to $24.2 billion Freddie Mac: $41.5 billion to $300 million. Lehman Brothers: $34.4 billion to $2.5 billion. Washington Mutual: $31.1 billion to $2.9 billion It is staggering when you look at it all together, and when you realize that the companies still standing like Bank of America and Citgroup, have seen bigger market cap declines than some of the institutions that have gone under (Lehman Brothers) or that had to be bailed out (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac). For the estimated 150,000 financial sector employees who have already lost or will lose their jobs this year, the outlook is bleak. (Although, First Round Capital and Union Square Ventures are already openly trying to recruit a select few of them for their portfolio startups—quant jocks are especially welcome). ================---------- As for the debate...I wonder what would've happened if Bush got what he wanted and (immediately and magically) privatized Social Security?
We lost way more than that during the dot com bust. The entire financial system is play money. It has been that way for a while.
...and to think Obama is cheerleading this crisis... and Congress adjourned without lifting a finger to help solve it... but hey, the libs have all the economic answers! Raise taxes and limit free trade! HELLA YEAH!!!
I don't know, the market has been propped up for a while on housing data. when you consider the DJIA was above 14K, its not even close.
I knew as soon as you posted in here it would only be about Obama. Seriously, many posters have already said something about it, but can't you at least try to pretend like you have the financial knowledge that you claim and post about it?
Why on God's green earth should I come in here and educate you twits about finance or economics? I have money to make and am in no way rewarded by making you feel smarter about these topics.
Translation from douche-bag speak: "I am currently experiencing a severe case of cognitive dissonance and do not have a rational explanation or solution for this crisis to offer, so instead I'll just brag about being rich and insult everyone's intelligence."
Hey . . . Mr. Conservative . . .didn't all this 4 trillion happen ON YOUR WATCH? I mean . . .if you guys were so good at this. . . .how did this happen . . .ON YOUR WATCH? I mean . . .didn't happen on Clinton's Watch Rocket River "yea. . I got ya in the hole. . so only i can get you out of it . . " - Mr. Conservative
My bad. You're right, you don't have the time to post anything here that is informative or even of substance.
Actually it happened on the Democratic Congress' watch. It's too bad they haven't lifted a finger to help lately... instead they went on vacation.... Snobama's answer is higher taxes and less trade. You don't have the intellectual horsepower to understand the impact of either, so let me help you out -- it would make things much worse. It's a shame that in your "mind", you attribute 100% of the economy's results to one individual. You just have too many learning curves to climb before you are able to engage in debate with me, rookie.
If this means no Mccain/Palin then cheer on! Someone need to set the wall street straight, and it certainly is not hands off Mccain and Bush in a skirt Palin.
OR . . .you are simply a Liar http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/partyDiv.html THE SENATE 106th Congress (1999-2001) Majority Party: Republican (55 seats) Minority Party: Democrat (45 seats) 107th Congress (2001-2003) Majority Party (Jan 3-20, 2001): Democrat (50 seats) Minority Party: Republican (50 seats) Majority Party (Jan 20-June 6, 2001): Republican (50 seats) Minority Party: Democrat (50 seats) Majority Party (June 6, 2001-November 12, 2002 --): Democrat (50 seats) Minority Party: Republican (49 seats) Other Parties: 1 Majority Party (November 12, 2002 - January 3, 2003): Republican (50 seats) Minority Party: Democrat (48 seats) Other Parties: 2 Total Seats: 100 108th Congress (2003-2005) Majority Party: Republican (51 seats) Minority Party: Democrat (48 seats) 109th Congress (2005-2007) Majority Party: Republican (55 seats) Minority Party: Democrat (44 seats) Other Parties: Independent (1 seat) 110th Congress (2007-2009) Majority Party: Democrat (49 seats) Minority Party: Republican (49 seats) Other Parties: 1Independent; 1 Independent Democrat LET'S LOOK AT THE REPRESENTATIVES 106th (1999-2001) 435 211[DEMS] 223[REPS] Independent (1) 0 4/1 107th (2001-2003) 435 212[DEMS] 221[REPS] Independents (2) 0 4/1 108th (2003-2005) 435 204[DEMS] 229[REPS] Independent (1) 1 4/1 109th (2005-2007) 435 202[DEMS] 232[REPS] Independent (1) 0 4/1 110th (2007-2009) 435 233[DEMS] 202[REPS] Independent (0) 0 4/1 Rocket River
Rocket River -- is that how you form an argument? You've got a lot to learn. It's simply not worth my time to bring you up the learning curves. We are talking about the financial crisis of the past year, and you post Congressional statistics dating back to 1999. It's not even relevant. Good grief, is there not a GARM thread that you could slow down instead?
Now from liar to simply trying to bait and Switch move Like a roach exposed to the light you try to scurry to another direction simply put Mr. Conservative . .. YOUR PARTY had this happen on YOUR WATCH Good Grief . . .a Liar is exposed and he simply can't handle the truth just like most of his ilk Rocket River
I think the only people in America making any money are the badass short traders that are cutting the nuts off companies with greedy dumb management. I wish it really punished the people responsible but I can't see how it hurts too bad to go from a net worth of $100 million to $50. I could get by on $50. It's the retail stockholders that really feel the pain and they trusted people who played their belief in the market. But the market always yields 12 % over the long haul, right? WTFK?
It never got big enough to take this type of hit and survive under Slick Willie either. Did it? Did it? No. Keep taxes low. I don't want my government to take more of my check.
