That is what is happening in the market today. Both he Dow and TSX are down five or six hundred points.The market is and always has been irrational. Gold on the other hand is up $62 to $1710 per ounce, an all time high. If your portfolio is well balanced, this will not hurt too much. We are balanced. We will see how well.
We will ride this one out as we have before, no fear and panic here. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. The old Honda will just have to suck it up and last one more year or two and we will have to make do with our 70's style kitchen for a while longer. Neither of these small sacrifices will affect our lifestyle to any great extent. We both have bullet proof pensions that continue to pay our day to day living costs and even allows us to winter someplace warm. We owe nothing but like everyone, we will have to tighten our belts a little but in my case, this is not a bad thing! We will not have to dip into our savings.
One thing about a day like today on the market is that it spurs some sober thought the next morning. The fall should not continue. I think the ratings people were making a statement against the idiocy that has taken over American Politics as much as they were looking at the financial situation.
On The Way Home We Stopped To See Elvis
4 hours ago
The expected 'Don't panic!!!' email from my financial adviser landed midafternoon.
ReplyDeleteMarkets go up and down, the key is to just hang on tight and enjoy the ride. :)
You can't control the tide but you CAN control when you jump off the cliff!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with you, Croft. Our government needs a wake up call. Along with the wake up call, let's hope the American people dump our illustrious leader in 2012. I also think there should be term limits on the Congress. Get rid of the good old boy club.
ReplyDeletehobopals
ReplyDeleteSo, you would have us dump Obama and return to Bush cronies who deregulated the markets which led to bundled subprime loans and credit default swaps that led to this whole mess? Corporations and financial institutions (who caused this) are now hoarding cash after being bailed out by the taxpayers - a bailout, by the way, initiated by the Bush administration. Obama was handed the largest deficit in the country's history and without his administration's programs the 2008 crash would have been much worse. You are right about Congress though. They are so dysfunctional now that they have, in part, led to this market drop and the far right is protecting the rich and big corporations. Another major factor is "machine" trading. The dramatic fluctuations are the result of high speed, high tech computers doing split second trading in volume. Croft is flush in gold, so he'll be okay. :^)
Bill in Nebr.
Like Bill in Nebraska said!
ReplyDeleteThe leading contender for the other side right now is Michelle Bachmann, aka "Crazy Eyes" who, with her husband, runs a "Pray The Gay Away Clinic". No thanks! But what do I know, I'm a Canadian...
I'm glad you've got bulletproof pensions. That used to be the way of the world, when workers were valued to the same extent the masters are. Now it seems even the average Joe has been brainwashed to see that job ~ the one s/he does that brings value and profits to the company ~ as a handout. "Oh please don't tax my king, else he will not keep me around." Garbage. There isn't a billionaire on the planet* that didn't get there as a result of people working for him. I'm not discounting the value of a great idea or a superior product, but the achieve great wealth one must have workers. I hate the constant harangue against people who work for others. It's outrageous. When unions were strong there was some dignity, still, for working people. Now, not at all. In the US, the oligarchs are constantly threatening to "go Galt," as if those who labor for another are nothing but leeches. It is shameful how we've elevated these destructive elements so far above the rest of us, and just as children who are spoiled become little monsters, so have the majority of them become demanding, rude, grasping, destructive beasts.
ReplyDelete*there are, of course, billionaires for whom no one works. these are the wholly destructive wall street hedge fund thugs, those conscienceless souls who sit in their offices all day manipulating the market to their benefit, destroying one company, overvaluing another, taking their massive profits in the tiniest incremental differences in stock prices from one instant to the next. and for this they are rewarded by paying capital gains tax on their income, rather than income tax. a 15% rate rather than the 36% they owe. and the next act of our corrupt congress will be a fight to reduce capital gains to zero. they contribute nothing. they truly ARE leeches on the rest of us, and yet we are subservient to them in every way.