Mixed Messages from the Markets

The financial news was a bit mixed yesterday. The stock market was all over the place. Several financial institutions - many who recently diluted their shareholders by selling stock - are now repaying tens of billions in TARP money.

So here is the question for those institutions' stockholders: did they dilute your shares by selling more shares so they could repay TARP and avoid government control over executive pay? If I were a stockholder I would certainly want to know. By the way, dozens of financial institutions were downgraded by S&P - big surprise.

Meanwhile Asian stocks are down more.

Big surprise - not. I am not - obviously - believing in the market rebound. The economy in the U.S. is totally messed up for perhaps decades to come. The more I read and learn about it, the more I realize I should perhaps move to another country. We are simply too debt laden at too many levels for anthing to go well at any sustained level for the forseeable future. I am not joking here. I am considering looking at other coutries where I might live. I am willing to stand by and help the country I love, but we are self-destructing and at some point - if those like me keep getting ignored - life on the coast in Costa Rica, Mexico or the like, does not seem that bad. Worth serious consideration.

Disclosures: None.

Comments

[Sovestor:]

Economy is recovering slowly. Focus on the long-term and keep it simple.

Jun 18 03:27 AM

[Roger Knights:]

Instead of having to move abroad, citizens should be allowed to vote with their feet in favor of the sort of political/social arrangement they prefer. There should be, at a minimum, officially (constitutionally) red states, blue states, green states, etc. These states would be exempt from national-level legislation on all the topics the national government has usurped from them over the centuries.

Jun 18 04:54 AM

[Craig Brown:]

Despite our two party system, people can vote however in the world they want. I believe Vermont recently had a Socaialist governor. If enough people vote for it, ironically, we can decide to turn our Democracy into a Communist state. Those that want to fulfill the requirements to get on the ballot, which are not that difficult, can get their for a vote. Go for it. Yet if you want a state exempt from federal regulaion - move out of the country

Jun 18 09:16 PM

[Michigan Fan:]

The economy will recover slowly and undramatically but it will recover.
This is a great time to invest in the stock market for patient investors.

Jun 18 10:19 PM

[Craig Brown:]

Keep reading and you will learn something disturbingly different. Focus on sites that focus on facts and data. Find reliable blogs and follow them. I cannot give you better advice. I agree it will eventually recover, but I do not think we are to that point yet. And when we get there, expect us to take a decade or two to get back to where we were. Just my take. so read more to see if I am right.


On Jun 18 03:27 AM Sovestor wrote:

> Economy is recovering slowly. Focus on the long-term and keep it
> simple.

Jun 19 11:26 PM