My Bank Bought Merrill Lynch

Okay, "my bank" meaning I have a checking account with Bank of America. I don't own the bank just so you know!

Anyway, I am not great with stocks or anything that has to do with numbers. I get very confused and my brain stops thinking altogether. But, I know this is a huge deal when Bank of America announced today that it will buyout Merill Lynch. I can't believe that ML was in this deep sh@t. Wall Street is in caos, Y'all!!!

I knew ML was having some problems last year when old CEO was let go with $5 million. I would quit if I were offered $5 million though.. My sister in law works for ML as an assistant VP. So I know some inside scoop. She's been taking a maternity leave at this moment and due back to work next month. I'm sure she's kind of freaking out by now..

Then comes the announcement of Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. This is crazy. All of those maga/giant finacial corporates are going down, one by one. It makes me realize how serious our economy is.

This is exactly what happened in Japan about 15 years ago. We had a golden age called "Bubble" when people were buying real estates, investing and spending and spending. Everybody in Japan thought they're rich and king of the world!!! Their heads were growing daily and banks were lending money to people and various companies left and right without any sufficient evidence that they could pay the banks back. Then bubble popped and nothing had left in the glass. Many banks had to file bankruptcy and forced to merge. Once strong "yen" became really weak and it burdened so many people living in overseas including myself. All the news that people in Japan heard at the time was that the economy is terrible, so they had become afraid and reluctant to spend money. In order for economy to be strong, money has to circulate, but people didn't do that due to fear for resession. Japan is still recovering from the Bubble.

When my husband and I bought our condo in Florida four years ago, the market here was booming. It was HOT!!! It was the smartest choice to buy the property and flip it if possible. But as soon as we signed the paper and closed it, I realized right then we had made a huge mistake. And I was right. We wanted to sell the condo when we moved back to Hawaii three years ago, but we didn't find anyone who wanted to buy our place with the price we're asking. We were patient for about a year, but we knew we could wait forever without anyone to buy it, so we decided to rent it out to my friend Miss K. Then my husband got sick, so we moved back here and living in it now.

It sucks because we feel like we're trapped. We are fortunate that we can afford the morgage, but many people are filing for foreclosures. Morgage, credit card, oil crisis. It's just unbelieveable!! But really, whose fault is it? Is it people's fault when they didn't have the money to buy the house, but they bought it anyway, and spend money on credit cards when they don't even have the money to pay it back? Or are banks and morgage comapanies at fault for lending money so easily???

I still would like to hope and believe that we'll be okay and this is just a phase. But I know our economy has not hit rock bottom yet. People are losing jobs, man. Isn't it a scary thought??? I am kind getting upset every time I go to grocery shopping and see the price of butter and milk getting more and more expensive. Very depressing...

Now the question comes to my mind is the big election in November. Will the new president can turn things around for good? Because it's pretty damn hard job to take over.