News - Alexandria Vrigina 

ADRON KREKELER

It came as a huge surprise. I thought the day would never come.

But yesterday was the day I actually agreed with Congressman Kucinich. He asked on the floor of the house, "Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs?”

He asked additional questions equally important such as: Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren't we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors?

And the ever important: How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets? Congressman Kucinich was not the only one to voice these concerns.

In fact there were enough congressmen and women who showed concern to stop the bailout from passing the House.

The stock market did not take the news well and the Dow Jones Industrials index fell over 777 points; a dramatic drop never before seen. I know because it is my business to advise my clients on their financial decisions and investment portfolios and every newspaper and TV show in existence said so.

Today as I write this our local banks in Alexandria are loaning money.

They have tightened their lending standards when it comes to speculative loans but they are still loaning money to credit worthy customers. I think that is a good thing since bad loans to questionable credit risks are a large reason we are in this mess. Much of the concern in the financial markets is that there is a lack of credit available for businesses to fund their continuing operations.

Availability of credit is important for many businesses but what it means to most of us here in Alexandria is harder to quantify. The days of easy money are gone, for now. I am not a banker, nor do I play one on TV but I believe, and some real bankers I have talked to agree, that a customer who qualifies can get credit even in this market.

Adron Krekeler, ChFC, runs Krekeler Brower Wealth Advisors in Old Town.