Wall Street's crisis hitting small business

[villager]

Source: Yahoo

Wall Street's crisis hitting small business

By Ron Scherer

New York - The ripple effect of the financial turmoil on Wall Street is spreading more deeply into the American economy.

The local hardware store is finding it more difficult to get the loan it needs to buy its summer gardening merchandise. Ivy-covered colleges and universities are finding that donors have second thoughts about contributions until the stock market quiets down. Some small businesses that count on using credit cards to finance their business are getting letters informing them of reductions in their credit lines or increases in their rates.

"Wall Street's woes are increasingly giving Main Street the blues," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

One sign of the blues on Main Street: consumer-confidence surveys. On Tuesday, the Conference Board said that consumer confidence had dropped to a level not seen since the recessions of 1980 and 1973.

"The plunge is directly related to the turmoil in the financial system," says Mr. Zandi.

Economists are particularly concerned about one development: CIT Group, a commercial finance company that lends to small business, used a $7.3 billion line of credit from banks because it was having trouble selling its debt.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080328/ts_csm/aeffects

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How great that the party that "understands business" is "in charge."

Where's my fucking sarcasm icon?

[salin]

1. And exactly how will that additional 100 Billion for Wallstreet bailouts from the feds help this?

Given that the aid does not "trickle down" to consumers - I would guess... not much. All that taxpayer backed money, (is it up to 300 billion now? with NO real oversight?) - and for what value to the average taxpayer (many of whom are employed by "mainstreet" businesses)?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

2. It temporarily bolsters the stock price so that the CEO's can cash out their options...

"YOU have just given the Bear Stearns CEO $62 Million"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/27/21443/6788/389/485739
by armenia
Thu Mar 27, 2008 at 07:08:51 PM PDT

That’s correct. Congratulations! You know those hard earned tax dollars of yours, the tax dollars that BushCo decided a couple of weeks ago were best spent to bail out the irresponsible investment bankers on Wall Street, instead of letting them fall flat on their asses while free market capitalism belts out an appropriate punishment to those clowns? (You know, the way that we have always been told that "the system" is supposed to work when it has been abused?)

Your generous donation has enabled a guy who should, at this very moment, be as completely and totally financially bankrupt as his immortal soul is, to pocket about a cool $62 million dollars. He never missed one pricy meal, baby. Talk about laughing all the way to the bank. Talk about (excuse screaming, please) CORPORATE WELFARE PROGRAMS.

Yep, our tax dollars made it all possible for James Cayne to take lemons and make lemonade, a whole lot of it. And all of this while Rome burns.

more> http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/27/21443/6788/389/485739

[Amonester]

3. Talk about (excuse screaming, please)

BIG-CORP COMMUNISM
(same as "FASCISM" but "easier" to "comprendo" whenever wingnuts rant about Socialism - you know, education and healthcare for all)

[villager]

5. They've only ever been "corporate commies" begging the government for help

...back since the Railroads, and even before....

[Amonester]

4. K&R

HAVE-MOREs f**k up? they win the jackpot...
HAVE-NOTs will pay (with what? their lives)