Oct 12 2008
Oh where, Oh where did my-modest-retirement go? Oh Where
Oh where did my money go? I looked under the bed and behind the couch—not there! Looked at my 401k, my IRA’s, my House—nope, nope, nope, but that was the last place I saw it! My money was smiling at me and I was smiling back—like an idiot!
No, I’m not an idiot and neither are you—People and companies worth billions (certainly not idiots) lost everything—makes me glad I didn’t earn my billions yet…
But when something is there one day and gone the next WE need to know where it is so that our brain doesn’t implode—somehow if we know who has it we can at least be angry at someone and scream at them in effigy. We need someone to blame…
However, we might not like who it is. WE might not be willing to accept the obvious.
You see WE (little alchemists we all are) don’t have a problem when we are turning lead into gold, or one dollar into two dollars. This achievement is heralded as a great feat of strength in the Costanza Households around the world during festivus.
If WE can expect magical gains, WE should be ready to accept devilry, when more than we started with is taken away! Shouldn’t WE?
All of this boils down to one thing: PERCEPTION. When perception becomes reality and seeing what we believe is the norm it creates a big big problem. The more people on the ship the more carnage is possible and likely—the whole world was aboard the Loveboat on this one!
What’s added to this boatload of disaster is panic and fear!
What do WE need to feel better? I mean what besides the worth that you told yourself that you had—TRUST! Trust is what could help us. Mmm, also patience for the log journey. And maybe a little common sense and realistic goals—that will help too.
Well, WE could have patience, common sense, and realistic goals on our own—let’s be honest. But trust, that one we need help with. Trust WE can’t do alone. Trust is what we should be looking for. Absolute trust, but maybe that’s like searching for the recipe to turn lead into gold.
But if we can muster the patience and look to the long term, all WE can realistically hope for is a little trust—well, that’s what common sense told me anyway…
AP— Trillions Disappear in Stock Market, but Where Did Money Go
NEW YORK — Trillions in stock market value — gone. Trillions in retirement savings — gone. A huge chunk of the money you paid for your house, the money you’re saving for college, the money your boss needs to make payroll — gone, gone, gone.
But if you no longer have that money, who does? The fat cats on Wall Street? Some oil baron in Saudi Arabia? The government of China?
Or is it just — gone?
Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale, puts it bluntly: The notion that you lose a pile of money whenever the stock market tanks is a “fallacy.” He says the price of a stock has never been the same thing as money — it’s simply the “best guess” of what the stock is worth.
“It’s in people’s minds,” Shiller explains. “We’re just recording a measure of what people think the stock market is worth. What the people who are willing to trade today — who are very, very few people — are actually trading at. So we’re just extrapolating that and thinking, well, maybe that’s what everyone thinks it’s worth.”
Shiller uses the example of an appraiser who values a house at $350,000, a week after saying it was worth $400,000.
“In a sense, $50,000 just disappeared when he said that,” he said. “But it’s all in the mind.”
Still, you run into trouble when you think of that potential money as being the same thing as the cash in your purse or your checking account.
“That’s a big mistake,” says Dale Jorgenson, an economics professor at Harvard.
Hey, the above is from Harvard and Yale professors—See, I must know what I’m talking about—those guys are from Harvard and Yale, they’re smart!. After all aren’t those the schools that are teaching and preparing the people that WE hope to become President of the USA…
—iChef PSA
PS
Reasons WHY, WARNINGS, possible PREVENTION, BLAME, TRUTH, don’t seem to matter (and it must be everybody’s fault because no one is interested in finding out) and that’s why TRUST is hiding…
From the Anchoress (doesn’t seem to matter): McCain on Fannie 2006
From Michelle Malkin (doesn’t seem to matter): Finally: New McCain ad on ACORN
Hope and change: Some hedge fund managers starting to feel bullish
From Ed Morrissey (doesn’t seem to matter): The quotes that explain the entire financial meltdown
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