The Obama Bubble

There is a tendency people have to avoid the reality of market cycles. Things go up, things go down. But we want to ignore that second part.

First there was the "Dot Com" bubble. Internet companies were up, up up! dooooooown.

So people bailed and went into real estate. People bought houses that were bigger than they needed because it was an "investment" (how's that working out?). Some people put granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances into old shacks in California and sold them for half a million dollars. You couldn't lose. Then again...

So here we are. The internet bubble popped. The real estate bubble popped. So what do we bail to next? What is the next wave? The next thing to go only up? What could solve all of our financial problems?

Whatever it is, I sure hope it arrives soon to save us. This time it won't pop. It will only go up, only get better and better. Finally, the bubble to end all bubbles.

Two Fumbs Up

It is entertaining to watch kids learn. My son speaks pretty well, but there are still a few cute quirks.

One lingering one is the use of "F" versus "Th" in certain situations. He can say both; it is not a matter of pronunciation. He just mixes them up.

According to him, he has two Fumbs and lots of Thingers.

Condolences to Dick Durban

Condolences to Dick Durban and his family at the loss of his adult daughter (story).

Contentment

If you keep your food in a refrigerator, your clothes in a closet, if you have a bed to sleep in and a roof over your head, you are richer than 75% of the entire world's population.

...and be content with such things as ye have...
Hebrews 13:5

No matter how poverty is defined, if I were an unborn spirit, condemned to a life of poverty, but God allowed me to choose which nation I wanted to be poor in, I'd choose the United States. Our poor must be the envy of the world's poor.
- Walter Williams

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
- Seneca, Epistles

The "poor" in the U.S. according to Robert Rechter of the Heritage Foundation
46% own their own home (3BR, 1.5BA, garage, porch/patio)
80% have A/C
89% have microwave
3/4 own a car, 31% have two or more cars
97% have a TV, 1/2 have two or more TV's
78% have a DVD or VCR
62% have cable or satellite
1/3 have dishwasher
1/3 both land line and cell phone

There are people clinging to the bottoms of trucks for the chance to be poor in this country.
- Michael Graham

Imagine how happy you would be if you lost everything that you have...then got it back.

King of the Mountain Forever

There is an interesting thing I have noticed while investing -- I mean losing money -- in the stock market: when everyone agrees things are only going up, it is time to get out fast.

I have a feeling the principle works for things other than stocks also. It certainly held true for real estate over the last few years. The one thing you always here is everyone saying how up is the only direction. They will often even acknowledge past events where everyone thought something was going up forever and crashed, but this time it is for sure. There is no peak in sight! The dot com bubble popped, but real estate has real value.

Is it possible it is true for nations as well? Greece, Rome, Great Britain with it's never-setting sun, they all must have thought themselves invincible. I think it is a dangerous thing to assume you are king of the world by right.

Speaking with Bill O'Reily in 10/27/08 about the election of Obama vs. McCain, Geraldine Ferraro had this to say:

The United States is a superpower, no matter what.

No matter what. How do I sell my stock?