It seems that recently not a day goes by without some new financial catastrophe hitting the world markets. Not long ago we saw the crash of the Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks in the United States.

Personally I think it’s karma since the CEO took home a $22 million bonus in March this year. Like everything was rosy! Just a little ironic that they were after a 22 million bailout just before they went bust!

Care to help out Mr Fuld? Didn’t think so.

The issue is it affects everyone. The stock markets around the globe reacted in terror to this latest breakdown and the economies of many countries have had a mammoth cash injection to help try to get through this.

But this is only the start. Many were forecasting AIG to be the next casualty (now bailed out) and the massive Washington Mutual are not doing well. Even if these two big institutions go down chances are it will not stop the freefall. The Dow Jones is actually still pretty close to its all-time highs meaning it has a lot further to plummet!

All this helps to kill the confidence of the consumer affecting everything from the amount we outlay on groceries to how much we are prepared to pay for a house. Speaking of the housing market, real estate agents and all the businesses which are attached to the housing sector are experiencing very rough times indeed. One of the many reasons estate agents are in so much trouble is because many people have realized they can use the Internet to sell their house privately bypassing paying the agents their fees.

In fact if you want to promptly sell your house in a popular private property sale it has been made very easy. A quick goggle on google will reveal literally hundreds of websites where you can advertise your home privately. It’s a very cute thing to do which could save you many thousands. Something well worth doing as the purse strings tighten!