Posted on 04/17/2003 10:54:17 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
The answer is to get the GOP above 60 votes in the Senate.
Absolutely. A lot of people lost a lot of money the past few years, with the technology bust and the funny bookkeeping. Does "Wall Street" really think John Q. Public thinks that the game is fair now, that we can trust the numbers, that there is no insider advantage?
Baby boomers are closing in on retirement, and will have to accumulate safe money for the future. Add to that equation the massive numbers of good-paying jobs that have been lost, and the concern that those who have good jobs have about their security.
I'll be contrarian here. The low interest rates on CD's aren't helping people want to invest in stocks. It takes more money in those CD's to get the amount of interest they'll collect up to what they want.
Here's another concern...isn't anyone concerned about insurance companies, when they have to start paying out on large numbers of annuities and if there should be a disease factor increasing the death rate?
It's going to be a long, long time before people forget the recent stock market losses and the hype they were fed to not cash out during the decline. I look at my mother's generation...a lot of them never trusted the stock market again after the '30s.
The author does not seem to believe that the burst dot.com bubble or the corporate scandals have a bearing on the current market. In that, I believe he is very wrong. To me, those things, coupled with one of the highest federal tax bites in American history, and the recent fear of terrorism and war, are having a real effect.
Combine these things with the unwelcome bath most took in the market during the last few years, it's pretty understandable that many have not rushed back into the market.
Capitalism depends on strict, verifiable and enforced fidelity. The corporate executives running companies large and small in this country are acting like a bunch of mobsters. There is little evidence to engender investors' trust. There is much evidence to foster the contrary. Corporate executives are openly walking away with tens of millions, while running their companies into the ground. They dont give a damn. And there is no penalty for these men when they commit fraud to steal all the substance from the companies they 'run'.
There was a short period of hope when we were treated to some perp walks, but that faded when we saw the big crooks continue their lives of luxury, untroubled by the distress of the victims or the two-inch arm of the law. So howcome the RICO statutes are not being used to get the obvious perps?
The marquee is glaring: "Want to get robbed? Invest in corporate America!"
People are merely taking notice!
Well these days, after CNN confesses to screwing with the news to whore after a despot and we find Walter Chronkite narrating a PBS show called "Avoiding Armeggon," what's a contrarian to do? Plus Chronkite should never have been "the most trusted man in America!"
I think the market is filled less with sentimental types and more with "oblivious to the obvious" types, these days!!!
I've always like your rather astute market comments. Are you a Financial Professional?
That Pooplava daily thread is always predictably negative on a perpetual basis. You don't seem to fit in with his fans and that's good, in my humble opinion.
1. Confidence of "the average guy" in the markets is gone. He'd rather spend it than invest it and watch it dwindle.
2. The guys who stupidly managed the big pensions and funds during the boom are still in place, and are gunshy. They're still spooked over what to do.
3. Excessive compensation and perks to top management in the face of losses aren't inspiring confidence.
Something that is going unnoticed is the irresponsibility of those hawking mutual funds and playing the stock market to people who have neither the brains nor the knowledge to be there.
When I opened my trading account, I got lectured, insulted, by a twerp who said I should put my real savings in a trading account or mutual funds because FDIC insured stuff just doesn't pay enough. When I said I was opening the account for trading knowledge, kind of like a kid playing Monopoly and learning from my mistakes, he got really, really agitated.
Well, so did I. When I questioned him, he didn't know the rule of 72, he couldn't tell me how to actually find a PE or Beta on my own, and got it wrong when I asked him if a stock that goes up 10% one day and down 10% the next would break even (answer: no. Fluctuation is nasty to the bottom line, unless it's skewed upward).
I mean, the guy was an idiot. I complained, but he's still collecting the bucks. Bottom line...my fun account is still fun, and I pulled out the original investment, so I can't lose money.
But there are people who believed "experts" like this. Those people are broke. I wish they could claim the Porsches and mini-mansions these people got off other's misery and susceptibility.
What you said.
I am no expert, just your average Joe. The stock market is kind of like gambling .. sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Folks need to realize this before they jump into the pool and prepare themselves for the worse. Personally I didn't get caught up in the dot.com bubble because I had trouble understanding why folks would invest loads of money and not expect a company to make any kind of profit ... but that's just my opinion.
I too lost money .. but it was a paper loss and since the companies didn't go out of business, I do expect those stocks to go up eventually in time.
As for the cooked books, most of it is out in the open now and most of these companies know they are being watched and won't likly cook those books like they did in the 90's. and if they do, they deserve to get hit hard by the SEC
I have no problem jumping back in the waters of the Stock market again, but right now Wall Street is a bunch of nillie willies that need to chill out a bit .. but again, that is just my opinion ..
What about the big assumptions companies are making about projected earnings in pension funds? They add this imaginary income to the earnings they report. Verizon, Eastman Kodak, Northrop Grumman, Weyerhaeuser, Boeing, etc.
What about the dilution effect of stock options, and the reduction of earnings should granted stock options be expensed?
What about the self-dealing being done by the financing arms of companies - some are effectively buying their own products, and booking a profit?
These things are "out in the open" as you say - but the "experts" can mislead the public by manipulating the books to create an impression of financial soundness by covering up the real rot.
Lots of funny financial games are being played by most of the companies (and government) in this country. Every once in a while the music stops, and another class of investor is left holding the bag...
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