It’s all about the economy

Got your retirement plan statement yet? I could have taken all my contributions for the year with me to Atlantic City instead and gotten a better return — and had more fun.

That could be an unintended consequence of the current economic meltdown: even less of a commitment to saving than the current crop of Americans have exhibited recently. See how we all explained it when the national savings rate dropped to zero — three years ago.

But now, really, what’s the point? If the “credit freeze” is caused by banks not trusting each other enough to lend money among themselves, who am I to hand over my cold hard cash to any one of them?

For a cogent analysis of how the national financial turmoil is playing out in Northern Colorado, see the roundtable discussion in the Oct. 10 issue of NCBR. It’s available in the edited print version, complete transcript or unedited MP3 file right here.

And in honor of the meltdown, our staff smarty-pantses competed this weekend in the Discovery Science Center’s annual Brainiac Bowl as The Battered Economy – and came a lot closer to winning the costume contest than the team from Beet Street that eventually took home the coveted first place award for answering questions correctly. Congratulations, guys, but next year, we will reclaim The Brain.

By the way, one category of subprime mortgage loan was made to folks with No Income, No Job or Assets – or, as they were known in the trade, NINJA loans. In case you were wondering.

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