Tremors on Wall Street triggered fear and anger among Americans on Monday as they anxiously watched the stock prices of financial giants, whose names had recently inspired awe, plummet, report global agencies.
Many are worried about their štednju za mirovinu, lamenting that they did not react sooner and move their money into a safer investment. "It’s too late, I should have done it on Friday. I’m appalled! Furious! What was the government doing?" asks Kevin Winge, watching the Wall Street news on television in a restaurant in Manhattan.
The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the emergency sale of Merrill Lynch, once the flagships of investment banking in the world, along with American International Group’s desperate search for fresh capital to ensure survival, have shaken Americans’ confidence in the financial system there. On Monday, leading indices on Wall Street recorded the largest daily drop since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001. "Everything seems risky now," says Dave Finley, a lobbyist in New York. He is concerned about his štednju za mirovinu but does not plan any major changes because, he says, he simply does not know what he should do.
"These are problematic times. The economy seems weak, and when the giants start to tremble, it means additional troubles are ahead. When small companies shake, it may not be so terrible, but when giants like Merrill get into trouble, it could trigger a domino effect," says Finley. The employees of Lehman Brothers were the most shocked as they ‘soggy’ carried their belongings out of the bank’s headquarters in New York. Just on Friday, they were optimistic. They knew the situation was tough, but they believed the bank would pull through. Few were willing to talk to the reporters who besieged them as if they were movie stars.
