A quick thought about this whole economic crisis...

Now, among all the problems we have currently affecting the market, from bad CRA subprime mortgages to the auto industries demanding blank checks, the stock market is in serious convulsions. For the last couple of weeks, activity has been either sharply up, sharply down, or record inactivity. Just yesterday, we saw a 777 point drop, the largest point drop in the history of the Dow Jones.

For the record, that was a 6.9% drop. That's less than the first trading day after 9/11. That's far less than the 1987 crash or the 1929 drops. In fact, it isn't even in the top 10 crashes percentagewise in history. Now, this doesn't mean that the drop was insignificant, but keep perspective. As of writing this entry, we're 250ish points up.

Here is the thing. All investment markets, be they stocks, precious metals, land, houses, or anything else that you can attempt to make a profit off of, have booms and slumps. Very few markets have ever gone to zero, and those that have were niche or novelty markets, such as the tulip craze about 300 years ago.

For example, houses are currently dropping in value. This is primarily due to the fact that their prices have been inflated for the better part of the last decade, and an elastic effect has swung them down. Now, people do need and will always need housing. So, houses will never reach zero. They will eventually reach a bottom in price before they start raising again. Will there be another massive boom like there was in the early part of this decade? Impossible to say right now, but what is impossible is that they will become worthless. Given time, even if we go through a period of economic hardship, people will buy houses again. They will be cheap and plentiful. As people begin to invest, the demand will slowly begin to increase prices. If one group of people are successful in making even a small profit, others will follow. Demand grows, prices grow. Suddenly, the housing market stabilizes at reasonable prices, and the economy starts experiencing real growth.

This whole situation also applies to the stock market. There will always be businesses (assuming the government doesn't seize control of the economy and centralize it), and they will always need capital. At least some of these businesses will seek capital by selling stock, even if the stock market has lost most of its volume. You'll have these new businesses looking for investment alongside a number of established corporations who will weather the fallout of a market crash. Nearly all of these shares will be available at rock bottom prices. Very few will go to zero, because even the average joe will note that a profit is likely from buying shares. Remaining investment firms will pick up on renewed interest and buy, albeit at slower rates than before the crash. The American drive to generate profit at all levels is an assurance of this.

Yes, people are losing money when the market goes down. The market has been booming for years now. Anyone who has been through an economics 101 class knows that markets go through cycles. Am I saying that we've "had too much prosperity"? Not in a sense of entitlement. I'm saying that the natural progression of profit-loss systems balances out. After a time of increased growth, the amount of time before growth stops and goes negative is just a ticking time bomb. It's going to happen. There will be hardship. However, there is a simple thing that can be done to avoid a real panic and mass hysteria.

Realize that this happens, and that handling it like adults expedites the return of good times. It may sound cliche, but it's the truth. The media in this country has a more vital role in keeping the economy going than it ever has in this nation's history. If they report bank runs, mass defaults, and that we are entering the next Great Depression, people will believe it and act accordingly. If they report that we can weather this and that we just need to tighten our belts, the public will be less frenzied and the overall impact will be far less than the former scenario.

Markets bottom out. They do not vanish from the face of the earth. Keep your wits about you, and soon enough you'll have the chance to make your money work for you at an efficient rate. When others get wind of it, so will they. Failure or success rests in the hands of the American people.

Sarah Palin

I love you, you've revitalized the conservative movement, and you just won the Republicans the White House.

Thank you.

I'm so confused...

How can there be so many shootings in Chicago, which is a gun-free city? Mr. PissyPants Daley, who is blaming families for the situation, failed to make any comment on why his second-amendment violating gun ban isn't preventing criminals from using guns during this crime wave. I notice ABC conveniently ignored it as well.

Huh.

How much more will it take?

Or have we already passed the point of no return?

How many more hostages does Iran have to take before Western nations decide that this nation's leaders, which have repeatedly threatened to perpetrate the destruction of Israel, which have denied the holocaust ever existed, which have supplemented the forces fighting our soldiers in Iraq, and which have routinely executed their own citizens for violating religious doctrine, need to be dealt with by force?

I'm really beginning to think that we've ignored so much, that we figure if we attack over any more provocation, it will be seen as hypocritical.

The SDS connection

Yeah, I know, another one of my rare posts on my blog I rarely update anymore. Either way, I had a thought. I was listening to Vicki McKenna's show here in Madison on WIBA, and she was talking with someone about apparent plans by the Students for a Democratic Society to disrupt the Republican National Convention through annoying little means.

Now, let's clarify something. This is not the SDS from the 1960s, this is the new revitalized SDS that was cobbled together in 2006 because Code Pink wasn't making enough anti-Bush noise. The original SDS fell apart in 1969, so they've been silent for decades. In other words, 2008 will be the first election the SDS will have targeted in almost 40 years. That same year, a number of the most radical members decided to go on with the fight, by any means necessary. They decided to call themselves the Weather Underground, also known as the Weathermen. One of the founders was a man named William Ayers. Maybe you've heard of him? Yeah, that Billy Ayers. The one who a certain presidential candidate holds in high regard, despite the fact that he shows no remorse whatsoever for bombing government buildings during his time with the organization.

So, now we have the revitalized SDS, showing up just in time to try to disrupt the Republican convention. This also happens to be the convention that will seal the deal on the person who will oppose, potentially, Barack Obama for the presidency...the same Barack Obama who looks up to one of the more prominent members of their original organization. A scene like Chicago '68, happening in Minnesota, quite probably would have a positive effect on Obama's campaign.

I know, when I first thought of it, I wanted to smack myself for cooking up conspiracy theories. It's just that, when most of the connections are oft-discussed public knowledge, it gets hard to shake them off as coincidence. I guess that happens when a presidential candidate's contacts include a domestic terrorist, a racial supremacist preacher, and an accused money launderer.

Fitna: Uploaded, and will be reuploaded and/or rehosted if necessary. Don't blame LiveLeak...they were brave to put it up in the first place, but it wasn't worth anyone's life.



Anybody find it offensive? That little black x in the grey box at the upper right of your screen stops the offensiveness. If you don't like that option, suck it. I'm on at 1:45 in the morning, and there are 370 seeders for the torrent for this movie. You can't stop it. I'll also host this if it's possible, too. Also planning to videotape a koran in a toilet just to piss off the Pace University Collusion of Devoted Islamic Murderous S**theads. All internet threats welcome...I could use a good laugh. Have a nice day.

I promise not to question authority...

There's a new documentary coming this spring that should finally begin to make some real waves regarding the topic of speech suppression in academia. Ben Stein is hosting Expelled, which blows the lid off of the concentrated movement by Darwinists in intelligentsia to squelch their colleagues if they even dare to suggest that Intelligent Design could be another theory. Being ostracized is only the beginning. They end up fired, having their reputations smeared, their work questioned, and their accomplishments twisted.

I really hope this gets widespread distribution, but I have no doubt that before long, this will be being attacked as an "evangelical nut piece". Amazing how zealous a lot of atheists can get. Almost like it's their...religion.