DISQUS

Steve: Maybe it's more a function of age because, as people near retirement, they are probably at the peak of their cash accrual, getting ready to start using that cash as they enter retirement. My husband and I have more than 100k at a single bank, but we've been much more watchful lately about making sure that we split it into smaller accounts (i.e. a large CD dispersed into 2 or 3 smaller CDs). So maybe you are right that most people don't have accounts with over a 100k in them, but as you get older, it is to be hoped that you have ample cash reserves. It's up to the individual to be vigilant about not letting any one account get over 100k.

I agree with Bill! Of course I'm angry about having to bail out Wall Street, but I'm 59 years old and planning to retire in the not-too-distant future. I'm watching my stocks lose more and more value every day and I'm scared-really scared. Today has been unbelievably brutal.

This is getting to be a habit for you. Congratulations!

Jeff: I agree with your comment about big government for the most part, but as an unrepentant aging baby-boomer liberal, I would like to modify your comment slightly. Fannie and Freddie (and lots of banks) would possibly not be in the position they are in if the government had enforced reasonable restrictions. People get greedy and large institutions are nothing but huge collections of greedy people. It is the job of government to regulate that greed for the greater good. So yes, I hate government intrusion into my private life, but I want government to protect me from the unfettered greed of corporations. We have had a "conservative" president and congress for most of the last 8 years and they have not done the job that government should do, and now they are in the position of being the biggest spenders of all big government spenders.

My father was part of Patton's Third Army that liberated Buchenwald. All his life, he talked about the Depression, about working for the CCC, then about joining the U.S. Army in 1939, and all the ensuing experiences of WWWII, and some of them were horrendous experiences (he was a machine gunner). But aside from telling me that he was there, at Buchenwald, he wouldn't talk about it. The only thing I ever remember was once he smelled something (don't remember what), and got inexplicably ill. I was just a child, and when I asked why the smell had affected him so violently, he just replied that it smelled like Buchenwald. But he refused to talk about it, saying that some things were too terrible to put into words. I can't imagine what those men must have seen, heard, smelled, felt, much less what it was like for the prisoners of Buchenwald. So yes, losing money or even your home is bad, but sometimes we need to be reminded of our perspective.