Interesting Money News from Around the World: Economic Freefall Edition

There are lots of signs all around the web this morning that the US economy is in trouble. For instance:

• September worst auto sales month since 1993 -- Sales fell 27 percent compared with September 2007, with every major brand but General Motors Corp. reporting drops of at least 24 percent. “It was tantamount, really, to a natural disaster,” said George Pipas, top sales analyst for Ford Motor Co., which saw sales slide 34 percent, its worst month of the year.

I don't know anyone who's purchased a new care recently.

• Bid of $1.75 on eBay gets abandoned Saginaw home -- With a winning bid of just $1.75, a Chicago woman has won an auction for an abandoned home in Saginaw. Joanne Smith, 30, recently was the top bidder for the home during an auction on eBay, The Saginaw News reported. Her bid was one of eight for the home.

Doesn't look like much of a home from the pic, but still, it's only $1.75. I knew things were bad in Michigan, but never thought they were this bad.

• Maria Sharapova could be yours for a cool $10,000 -- The lovely Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova put herself -- well, a date with herself, anyway -- up for auction at a charity tennis tournament. The winning bid was $10,000, which seems a bit below market value.

When a date with Maria Sharapova goes for only $10k, you know we're in financial Armageddon! ;-)

Comments

[GenYRetireRich]

You might want to mention to your readers that if they want to have a big pile of money when they retire, they should never borrow money to buy a depreciating asset, like a car. They should be living within their means, saving and investing, and buying cars they can pay cash for. Sure, the economy doesn't hum as well if less people spend on the "luxuries", but America would be better off with a slower economy where everyone lived within their means. I'll have a post about this in y blog in the next few weeks, where I talk about the "irresponsibles" and the "frugals".

[Ryan S]

The ironic thing is that one of the main reasons the bailout is "needed" is so that loans will be easier to obtain. But one of the underlying reason for the situation that created a "need" for the bailout is because loans were too easy to obtain.

[EN]

I love the Maria Sharapova bit! (I'm a little of a tennis nut) :)