A young acquaintance of mine admitted to being amused by the most recent (ongoing) stock market crash of August 08-10, 2011. I found little amusing in the crash and felt his statement was callous.
Many of us have been working since dirt was invented and are still working to acquire a nest egg that we can retire on. A sizeable percentage of that nest egg just disappeared. I’ve been working since 1967 (44 years) and fulltime since 1974 (37 years). After a lifetime of what feels like indentured servitude this stock market crash may have just sentenced me to several more years of hard labor. He finds this funny? I don’t.
A great many others, like his parents, have been retired for several years and are relying on the income from the assets it took them a lifetime of work to acquire. A significant percentage of these assets disappeared over a matter of days. His parents may now find it necessary to reenter the workforce at a time when the unemployment rate is 9.1%. Finding a job when you are in your 60’s in this job market will not be easy. They will be lucky to find jobs as baggers at Kroger. I don’t find that amusing either.
BAH!
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