"...All I am saying is I am not going to take the word of an old guy who has spent his professional life looking for attention and is jumping at the chance to get more of it now. You have to find a better "sky is falling" source than that...."
Ok
That said, like Punzy I have limited economic expertise, but this how things look to me:
1) We don't have enough oil for independence, we don't make that much stuff anymore, so about the only thing Americans have offered the world lately (besides our military force) is the willingness to purchase a bunch of stuff.
2) Americans aren't buying as much stuff anymore and will soon be buying even less.
3) Dollar is falling as our economy loses value because consumers aren't propping it up.
4) A whole lot of the stuff in item 1 was bought on credit.
5) Less buying power means less of an ability to pay people back.
What happens from here on out is anyone's guess, but I don't have confidence in the Fed. What stinks is I was trying to figure out today the best way to ride it all out (besides getting rid of debt). Cash reserves are great but if the Fed is pumping $ in, isn't it silly to hold on to cash since inflation is inevitable? The fate of the S&P 500 is questionable, buying gold seems dumb because it's already gone up so much, no one wants to buy real estate. I'm not sure about bonds or international funds. We have some of each. (Individual stocks are not our thing -- we have nowhere near enough time to research and keep up with them.)
I'm glad I'm not retiring in 5 or 10 years, but in deciding whether we should make any changes, we decided to just let it ride out. Which really doesn't seem that smart, but oh well.
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But your statements above sure look like a "sky is falling" scenario to me.
??
"Riding it out" may work.
Did not for Bear stockholders, however
