Good morning, Netizens...

Realizing that I might have been unduly harsh in my criticism of stock and bond brokers in a previous commentary, I thought enough of it to garner this picture which shows a trader pausing outside of the New York Stock Exchange in the final minutes of the trading session in New York, October 9, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Segar

During that frightening and often very-frustrating day, we saw stocks and bonds plummet, with huge swooping leaps of the DOW and it may not be over yet, despite what optimistic speeches our various financial leaders have made over the last 48 hours.

However, the toll on the brokers and buyers, who bore no association with those guilty of various high crimes, was both real and visible as this picture shows.

For although they once held prestigious jobs in a high-income world, they too, may be staring at the possibility their once-comfortable lifestyles are perhaps a thing of the past. They were guilty of nothing but trying to “hold the line” in an unpredictable and therefore very tenuous market, and most did their jobs with absolute perfection.

It does not change the bottom line for most of Americans who had hoped their investments would allow them to retire. Some of them lost nearly one-half their investment at the push of a call button in some far-off stock exchange or brokerage, and it remains to be seen when or if things will return to normal. These are, after all, men and women in the trenches of the world economy, not those guilty of profiteering or other malfeasant actions.

Do you know how much your investments have lost?

Dave

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