Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Mortgage Crisis

Today, financially responsible folks who work and save see the value of their investments fall every day. Now they are expected to “spread the wealth around”, not those who signed mortgages that “they just didn’t understand”, not those who bought houses they thought they were entitled to, but couldn’t afford. Today, workers and investors are expected to carry the slackers.
And going forward, the federal government will throw money at the mortgage problem until the country is so in debt that the interest it owes will bury our children. Bury them in obligations they had nothing to do with.
The recent history of our government and its people is to push fiscal responsibility on to those who are responsible and on to future generations. This has to stop; it’s irresponsible and immoral.

Friday, October 17, 2008

My take on the stock market – October 17, 2008

As I write, the stock market has suffered a year of moderate decline followed by two weeks of steep declines. This is a consequence of the incredible lending practices of the past five years. People now think that their investments are going to be worthless and they should retreat from the market while they can. Depending on your circumstances, this could be a mistake. If you do not need to sell your stock market investments any time soon, you should either “stay the course” as John Bogle advises or buy as Warren Buffet is doing.