|
You Gotta Be Crazy
by James Glaser October 16, 2008 You have to be crazy if you start listening to all the "experts" trying to tell you how to invest your money. First off, the so called experts were all caught unawares about how the markets have collapsed. Nobody knows for sure what is really going on with the economy, and for sure nobody knows how to fix it. First off Washington was going to buy bad mortgages to save Wall Street, but then the Europeans decided to pour money into the banks and that seemed to work. So, we scrapped buying the mortgages plan, and decided to pour money into the banks. That idea looked good on Monday with the market going up 900 points, but Tuesday the market started to fall, and yesterday we had an over 700 point drop. It is worth repeating. Nobody knows for sure what is going on with the economy, and nobody knows how to fix it. However, if you watch the television investment programs, the "experts," better known as stock traders, are telling you that now is a great time to buy low and sell high later. Of course they never tell you that if the company you buy stock in goes belly up, you lose everything. All you have to remember is that these people make money when you buy and when you sell. They don't care if you make money or not, they just want you in the game. The same goes for real estate brokers. There have been lots of articles in our local paper and I bet in yours, written by the local or State Board of Realtors telling us about how the housing market has bottomed out, and now is the time to buy. Well the houses in my neighborhood are not selling, and their prices are continuing to fall. Realtors, like stock brokers, want to sell you something, anything, because that is how they make money. They don't care if you make money, they just want you in the game. It is a shame the stock brokers and realtors are having a tough time, but that is the way it is. These people have lived the good life for a long time, and they don't want it to end. I don't blame them for that, but I do blame them for trying to get that last dime out of a game that has gone bad for everyone involved. Don't be crazy. Hold on to your money until you understand the new rules that are being formulated. It is going to be some unknown amount of time before stocks and houses are a safe investment again. I don't know when that will be, you don't know when that will be, and for sure the people trying to get your money don't know when that will be. Post Script: I watched the debate and I didn't see an American President up there, but one of those two will be our next President. I don't envy either of them the job. I think we should all start praying for the winner. They are going to need it. |
BACK to the 2008 Politics Columns.