How is the financial crisis affecting you?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/18/art.ny.papers.gi.jpg caption="The financial crisis is worsening on a daily basis."]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
If you think the fallout from the crisis in the financial system is barely touching your life, think again.
The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all down around 20 percent so far this year which means whether or not you've had the stomach to look at a statement, your 401(k) Is getting hit hard.
Thinking of taking your money out of the market and using it to buy a home instead? Besides the risk of selling stocks at a loss, banks are tightening lending standards making it tougher to get mortgages. And that's not just for people with bad credit.
Using your credit cards to get by until things start to clear up isn't such a great option either. Miss a payment and expect to get whacked by your credit card company. USA Today points to penalty rates as high at 32 percent.
Finally all those hundreds of billions in government loans and bailouts for AIG, Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and the like is money you and I, the taxpayers, are on the hook for as well.
Here’s my question to you: How is the deepening financial crisis affecting you?
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Palin’s Cooperation: Does it matter?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/18/art.palin.michigan.gi.jpg caption="Governor Sarah Palin is refusing to cooperate with the investigation."]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Republican Vice Presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin is refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
Palin's office claims Monegan was let go for insubordination. Monegan says it's because he wouldn't fire a state trooper named Mike Wooten.
Three years ago that trooper was in the middle of an ugly divorce from Sarah Palin's sister. Monegan says Palin pressured him to fire Wooten. Palin denies that. Monegan ended up losing his job.
Alaska lawmakers have been looking into this matter since July. It has been a bipartisan investigation and Palin had originally agreed to cooperate. But not anymore.
The Alaska Attorney General, who was appointed by Palin, said yesterday the governor has "declined to participate" in the investigation.
Here’s my question to you: How much do you care whether Sarah Palin cooperates in the trooper investigation?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Will the financial crisis change your vote in November?
Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
For those of you keeping score at home, so far this year, the U.S. Government has agreed to shell out about $800 billion in loans and bailout packages. That includes everything from the $300 billion to help struggling homeowners refinance mortgages they shouldn't have gotten in the first place to the $85 billion loan Uncle Sam is extending insurance giant AIG.
Not exactly chump change…
On Tuesday, John McCain said he opposed a taxpayer bailout of AIG but changed his tune a day later, saying the government had no choice but to come to the rescue.
Watch: Cafferty: Economy and Voting?
Barack Obama hasn't directly addressed the bailout question. But Obama contends that the anti-regulatory stance of Republicans in Congress is the reason why we're in this mess. And while his VP candidate Joe Biden said Tuesday he did not think the government should rescue AIG, the Obama-Biden camp acknowledged a day later, it had to be done to protect the economy.
Here’s my question to you: Has the growing financial crisis changed your mind about who to vote for for president?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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