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It seems that American Express may be in some financial trouble of their own. American Express (AXP) might have been feeling left out of the government’s $700 billion financial bailout package. But now, as the company’s consumer credit quality deteriorates faster than rivals while the economy falls into recession, it can get help from Uncle Sam. On Nov. 10, the Federal Reserve approved American Express’ application to become a bank holding company. Until now, AmEx couldn’t use the same tools as its rival credit-card companies to raise cash. Under the government’s bailout plan, banks regulated by the Federal Reserve could rely on cheap funding from the Fed and from other efforts by the government to prop up the banking system. Also, these banks can compete for deposits from bank customers, another relatively cheap form of funding. This may be just what AX needs to keep them going. There is something seriously wrong with our economy when the credit companies can’t even get credit.

I am happy to say that gas prices are way down. Gas prices where I am here in Northern Florida have actually dropped over a dollar in the last month. That is substantial no matter who you are. The prices are not as cheap as we would all like but with the way things are going I am sure that they are going to continue to fall. Who knows by the time we have pumpkin pie out on the table for Thanksgiving they might get under $2 per gallon. Now that would be something worth talking about.

I have not gotten the exact details yet but I know that the 700 billion dollar loan grant thing was finally approved. From what I have been hearing however they have expanded this bill to include additional funding for more things. Again I have not gotten the exact number but from what I was told this bill could actually be in excess of 850 billion. Now that is one big bailout. I mean seriously, how bad off are we?

It seems that our economic struggles are no effecting far more than just US citizens. After the bailout when unapproved yesterday and the dow jones plummeted stocks in Asia went down as well. When that happened stocks in Europe went down. Now we are having a worldwide problem that is all effected by a single bill here in the states. The power we hold is unlike any other country and yet we are in a worse financial place than most of the countries that rely on us.

That is the question of all questions actually. Everyone wants to know the best place to put their money to get the best return. Truth is that I am not that great at deciding on the best places. I just invest my money in things that I think will be around the longest. I just dropped some money into an electronics company that makes nothing but memory cards. Why you may ask. Simple. People love photos and cameras are a huge item all the time. Recession or not people will get together with family and take lots of pictures. Those pictures will be stored on the memory cards that I have invested in.