apppro

Economic Data Showing Signs of Negative Trends

Steve you always give very complete and complex data to support your thesis. I can only comment by adding this quote from my recent blog:
<<You may ask, “Why should I care? I’m not in the market or I own mutual funds, why should this matter to me?” It matters because you may be one of those lucky people who still has a job, or one of those still trying to find one... all these swings and angst are not healthy. They make everyone so full of fear and uncertainty that no one can muster up the desire to spend, invest, invent, inspire, etc. And don’t make the mistake of thinking that CEO’s of big companies are any different. I told you before, you keep bashing someone over the head over and over; sooner or later they will break! This is especially true of small businesses, the major driver of employment in the U.S. Would YOU spend thousands or go into debt to start a new business if every 5-minutes someone else is telling you that everything will crash in the next 10-minutes? I don’t think so!>>

It is really impossible to rationalize or even justify today's market with facts. As a mathematician by heart and a compulsive anal personality - I do love facts, but leaving out emotions makes all the facts in the world meaningless. Fear & greed are far greater powers then facts. We allowed a few to scare the crap out of ourselves over a year ago, through their abuse of M2M and total lack of SEC regulation. We allowed them to destroy our confidence in our markets - and in ourselves. If we don't change our own view of the markets and our society in general will we not survive. We must take this short-term mentality we have fostered and smash it into oblivion. A nation is not built over 3 weekends, but we sure allowed a few to almost destroy it over that same period of time.