Survey of pro-bailout DUers: Do you have money invested in a 401(k) or in the stock market?

[LBJDemocrat]

Just wanted to get an idea. I'm against the bailout, and I really hate it that our system has set itself up so that the middle class has a vested interest in perpetuating the kleptocracy.

[msongs]

1. not as much as I used through no fault of my own lol nt

[stray cat]

2. I have retired/disabled parents whose money is in the stocks

They were in what was perceived to be relatively low risk investments but so much for that idea. I do have a 401K but I can let it ride for 20 years. I just won't have any retirement saved so I hopefully will die on the job.

My concern is the "credit contraction" businesses operate on letters of credit for raw materials if manufacturing and food service shuts down we're all screwed. Those who lose jobs first and then the rest of us who need goods, services and sustenance. My job is probably secure for at least a few months as long as the school can make payroll but not anyone in manufacturing is likely to be as lucky. I heard paper manufacturing is drying up because those companies can't get credit - anyone here use in type of paper product?

[enough]

3. I started reading DU's Stock Market Watch about two years ago and

gradually got everything out of the market because of the picture I was seeing there. I find it hard to believe that anyone still has anything in the market unless they are in a position where they can afford to lose it, which I am not.

[Samantha]

8. I emptied out my 401(k)'s last year - I too read DU!

Used the money to finish off an apartment in the basement of my house. Finished it off a month ago and rented it out. I am cash poor from doing this but my income on a monthly basis has tremendously approved. The rent I collect offsets my mortgage, so in effect, I live in my house for free (except for the utilities).

Sam

[donco6]

4. No, not me. Nope. None here. Nothing to look at.

With all the pitchforks and torches, you think anyone's going to seriously answer that?

[Mojambo]

5. None whatsoever

And I do support some kind of bailout.

I would prefer a better bill, but I could and would have swallowed what was voted down today.

[kirby]

6. I pulled my retirement money out of the stock market, but it sits in

a money market fund which normally is normally very safe. I am self-employed so I provide my own retirement.

[LBJDemocrat]

7. Kick. nt

[rgbecker]

9. I've got some of my savings for retirement in the stock market and more stocks through mutual funds.

I find it hard to believe anyone with any savings is not at least partially in the market, even if it is just through a company or government pension plan. I mean, would you keep it under the mattress? Or what do you do with your savings, be they for kid's college, retirement or whatever?

Truth is, I'm not worried about the stocks as I don't think companies like Norfolk Southern RR or Dupont Chemical are suddenly going to go bankrupt and if they do we are all in more trouble than having any savings is going to help. The bank stocks are another matter, as it is clear they are in big trouble, having leveraged the loans which are no longer backed by house values. Truth is, as a carpenter, the work is drying up fast and no one seems to want the houses, and won't want the houses until they think the prices have stabilized. And I don't think the real estate prices are going to stabilize until this bank business is bailed out, and they feel they can loan again.

This bailout is about confidence in markets and in the dollar. If there isn't any, everyone pulls out, no one can get a loan, businesses close, people stop buying, carpenters lose their jobs, towns lose their tax base, teachers lose their jobs etc....

If guys with a small bank account are worried and thinking of pulling their money out of the bank you can imagine how that is working on the investors with their life savings on the line.

I think the idea of making this a moral question about somehow helping out guys who have been screwing people for years is a little bit not the issue. There is plenty of time to find the crooks and change the system so they can't do it again. But right now, there is a panic that America is just going to say fuck it, we'll spend billions killing people on the other side of the world and borrow the money to do it. I think we need to show we are willing to step up to our obligations as a country and back up the dollar.

On the other hand, if everyone wants to see what it was like in the 1930's, try out their survival weapons, spend their time filling out job applications, I'll go with that...at least the rich guys won't get any money out of us....or maybe they will anyway.

[PVnRT]

10. Ain't no bait like flamebait

[LiberalHeart]

12. Amen.

[LiberalHeart]

11. So, if someone does have money invested and supports the bailout,....

...that means they want to perpetuate the kleptocracy? Can't just be they don't want the whole country to suffer?

[Catherine Vincent]

13. Invesco. nt

[morillon]

14. I liquidated ALL my connections to the stock market two years ago.

I took the penalties on my 401(k) and just got everything the hell out. I wanted nothing further to do with the stock market, and I intend to keep things that way. I had no dog in this fight today, not from a portfolio or retirement perspective.

That said, I honestly believe Congress is going to have to do something to thaw out the credit markets. I didn't support Paulson's original proposal. I don't know any sane person who did. Heh.

But I saw the bill today as a flawed stopgap measure that could keep things rolling a little longer until a REAL fix could be put in place by a Democratic majority with a Democratic president. There's a shitload of work to do and damage to UNdo.

I worry what's headed our way this week.

[Chan790]

15. Yes, but not much. (Under $1K.)

It's a bitter pill but it's got to happen. Sorry...they made the mess but they've got a gun to our collective heads.

[high density]

16. Yes I have my retirement money in the stock market

Which is prudent for somebody like myself in their late 20s and has decades of accumulation to go.

If I want to earn something greater than inflation over the long run I don't see any other option.