401(k) is a o.k.

I love all of this financial turmoil. It is some of the most interesting stuff in the world. Here is a recap for today.

1. Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11.

2. Merrill Lynch was bought out by Bank of America for about $25 dollars a share.

3. A.I.G. is in trouble. The governor of New York is talking about some weird state oriented bailout.

4. There wasn't a federal buyout of Lehman unlike earlier in the year.

5. The European markets tanked. They fell 4 to 5 percent, as opposed to the U.S's 3.

6. CHINA cut interests rates, which means it's fighting inflation and it fears a recession.

It's amazing. The reason I'm interested in this financial turmoil stems from what happened with Bear Stearns. I like to picture some of the smartest financial minds of the country staying up all hours of the night, not eating or sleeping. They realize that a LARGE portion of their riches are lost, but they must find some sort of bail out system, so the whole market doesn't crumble. They are not altruistic, but when was the last time you tried to work through a problem that effects the value of most people's retirement plan. These big CEOs worry about their money, yes, but all our money (if you have invested in the market, mostly our parents) is affected by their decisions.

http://www.norris.blogs.nytimes.com/