Stockmarkets are collpasing and US bansk are to be nationalised

[ABetaDad]

This may not seem important but the US stock market just hit the level it was a decade ago.

Strong rumours that the US is going to nationalise some or all of its major banks over the weekend and Gold has just gone up above $1000 / oz.

How are you planning to cope in a total global financial meltdown?

Does your family income depend on financial markets? Where are your savings? Are the banks safe? What has happened to your pension?. Is your job safe?

How would you survive a Depression like the 1930s. Its not just about house prices anymore this is turning into a global catastrophe and the Govts of the world do not know what to do.

In 20 years of trading markets I have never seen anything like this.

More than 1 are you a banker/financier?

I have very modest stocks and shares and am hoping they will cover me whilst dp is quite ill and I am taking a career break..I daren't look at my shares (Saw FA in Nov but not since)

Do you think we are in a depression rather than recession?Should I cut my losses and sell my shares?

I am a clueless smalltime punter...HELP!!!

There are already short weeks. It was widely reported in mid-Jan that KPMG had offered staff including partners a shorter working week, or time off on greatly-reduced pay. Decisions were due to be made mid-Feb but I haven't noticed any update.

Luckily we are debt free (no mortgage) and have some savings. If DH lost his job we would be able to last about 2 yrs living frugally.

However this is assuming our savings are safe in the bank, and that there are no problems with food supply, energy companies etc. All things beyond our control.

It is sometimes hard to work out how bad things are. To me it seems that for anyone in the private sector there is little job security and it isn't really the time to buy a bigger house or embark on private education (unless you have 1000s saved up).

Yet reading the thread about numbers in prep schools there seem to be large numbers of people (mumsnetters and their friends) who are on salaries well over 100k, often work in the financial sector and don't seem to have a financial worry in the world.

So its hard to know the true picture of how standards of living are going to change in the short term.

The one thing I've noticed is that holiday prices are coming down with lots of last minute ski bargains..which would suggest the demand for more expensive holidays (and other luxuries) is going down substantially.

I have just come back from Ireland and it is quite scary how close to total collapse they are over there. Those in Public Sector are paying an extra 10 - 150 Euro A WEEK forced levy on their wages.

That is quite a lot of money for a nurse, bus driver, postal worker etc.

Not trying to scare public sector people..........but safe is a subjective word.

Ireland does seem to be precariously close to an Iceland or California situation I agree GPAC, it felt much worse to me than it feels here in the UK. I think the Irish government is really going to struggle as they were previously raking in taxes, especially from house sales which has fallen away to practically nothing suddenly. People there don't seem as anxious as they are here though, I don't know whether that's blind optimism that the downturn won't last long or just not expressing their anxiety and putting a brave face on things.

Ireland have the added problem that the euro makes them unable to use their own monetary policy. The value of the pound has dropped, staving off deflation for now.

It's all part of the business cycle, and the result of successive governments claiming to have 'cured' the economy forever. Fact is that economics isn't a science - therefore there is no cure all. There has been extreme panic in the UK due to for the first time it affecting middle class professionals in London. I suspect that the OP and Morethan are both bankers of some kind.

The fact is that we have had an economy for a long time based on people borrowing lots of money to buy a lot of things that they don't need. Banks have pushed up house prices by lending more and more money to people. It doesn't take a government economist to work out that this is quite simply not sustainable. What worries me most isn't that it has happened but that none of these idiots seemed to see it coming.

Deflation is an interesting possibility and there is much discussion about its possible effects.

Actually, lots of people saw it coming brettgirl, there have been plenty of articles in the papers for the last few years, but there is a difference between knowing something can't last and knowing exactly when it will all fall apart and to what degree. I do think that pretty much everyone who was in a position to do something about it was in a bit of a no-win situation, which is not to say that the outcome couldn't have been lessened somewhat.

It will be quite strange moving back to Ireland I think as I grew up there in the 70s-80s and left in the late 80s before the Irish tiger took off. When I move back I think it will be very similar to the 70s Ireland that I grew up in.

Well quite - who would risk their political future on such doom?