The thing is, that the entire planet has to de-leverage. It started with the brokers, spread to the banks and then to the blue chips and down to the small caps, and as that occurred, the investor has de-levevered.
There is still perhaps some more to go. We are only back to 2003-04 levels. But, there are some great buys out there. To get in now you have to hold your nose and jump, expecting to take some more downside. If you can do that and you think we will have a turnaround in the medium to long term, 1yr-5years, then I would be a buyer and just not look at it every day.
As my savings are pretty much gone, I won't be buying much, but I will be dollar averaging in as time passes.
No one is immune, Cold Heat. We’ve all taken hits. I wish I had had the courage of my convictions to have gotten 100% out 18 months ago, when this all began (or before that when some people were already blowing the whistle on the real estate correction and connecting it to the the trillions of MBS products out there in the real world), but nooooo, like a Doofus, I held on for too long, and paid.
At some point, there will be an enormous buying opportunity. But, there is just too much uncertainty now, on corporate balance sheets due to the derivatives and CDS products and the resultant counterparty risk besides the inherent risks of these “weapons of mass destruction,” and also because of the election, especially given The One’s lead in the polls (though a month is an eternity in politics).
One thing everyone here can agree on is that OBAMA would be a disaster for capitalism and whatever is left of free markets after this very sorry affair has sorted itself out.