The stock market has been looking like a roller coaster lately. Just remember that the only people that get hurt on a roller coaster are the ones that try to get off in the middle of the ride.
Could you hear the sound of generator manufacturers running their plants at full capacity in August and September of this year? Even though it meant people were suffering the consequences of two major hurricanes, the sound of production lines operating at full tilt was music to many ears. There’s talk that after two relatively quiet years, demand for generators after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike could exceed the demand that followed Hurricane Katrina.
The weak domestic economy and the stupidity and mindless risk-taking that came to light on Wall Street this past year helped fuel lower domestic demand for many OPE products. Contracting demand and a crowded field of manufacturers wanting to supply that smaller demand created many interesting opportunities and dilemma’s in the OPE marketplace.
The playing field in OPE retail product placement in 2009 will be quite interesting. Which OEM’s lost placement and which ones gained placement? Which OEM’s got their price increases to stick and which ones had to back down under a major customer’s “gentle” persuasion? Who’s on the list of OEM’s that could potentially disappear, merge or be bought out?
If the Bill the House of Representatives failed to pass on Monday, September 20 had been called the 2009 Financial Reform Bill instead of a Bailout, would it have passed?
Dan Wiener, who writes The Independent Advisor for Vanguard Investors newsletter (http://www.advisoronline.com/) thinks this is a good time to be investing. Here’s how he arrived at his conclusion:
“The 4.4% drop in the Dow on September 15, 2008 ranked as the 76th worst decline in the Dow in modern times … Since World War II, we've seen 17 declines greater than 4.4% in the Dow, with more than half of them occurring during the '80s. They often have signaled a terrific time to invest in stocks. On average, the one-year return for the Dow after one of these 17 big declines was 12.8%, and the two-year return was 26.4%. In only two instances were the two-year returns negative. Look ahead a couple of years, and I think you'll see these days as fantastic ones for adding money to the markets. Let the naysayers have their word—they probably weren't around to tell you how to make money 8 years or 9 years ago. I was. We did. End of story.”
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They stayed with a very poor family.
When they returned, the father asked the son what he thought of their trip. "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son. "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."
Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing?
So if Wall Street is dead, was it murder or suicide? I suppose it doesn’t really matter at this point. But whatever happens/happened with the bailout, don’t bail out!
Could you hear the sound of generator manufacturers running their plants at full capacity in August and September of this year? Even though it meant people were suffering the consequences of two major hurricanes, the sound of production lines operating at full tilt was music to many ears. There’s talk that after two relatively quiet years, demand for generators after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike could exceed the demand that followed Hurricane Katrina.
The weak domestic economy and the stupidity and mindless risk-taking that came to light on Wall Street this past year helped fuel lower domestic demand for many OPE products. Contracting demand and a crowded field of manufacturers wanting to supply that smaller demand created many interesting opportunities and dilemma’s in the OPE marketplace.
The playing field in OPE retail product placement in 2009 will be quite interesting. Which OEM’s lost placement and which ones gained placement? Which OEM’s got their price increases to stick and which ones had to back down under a major customer’s “gentle” persuasion? Who’s on the list of OEM’s that could potentially disappear, merge or be bought out?
If the Bill the House of Representatives failed to pass on Monday, September 20 had been called the 2009 Financial Reform Bill instead of a Bailout, would it have passed?
Dan Wiener, who writes The Independent Advisor for Vanguard Investors newsletter (http://www.advisoronline.com/) thinks this is a good time to be investing. Here’s how he arrived at his conclusion:
“The 4.4% drop in the Dow on September 15, 2008 ranked as the 76th worst decline in the Dow in modern times … Since World War II, we've seen 17 declines greater than 4.4% in the Dow, with more than half of them occurring during the '80s. They often have signaled a terrific time to invest in stocks. On average, the one-year return for the Dow after one of these 17 big declines was 12.8%, and the two-year return was 26.4%. In only two instances were the two-year returns negative. Look ahead a couple of years, and I think you'll see these days as fantastic ones for adding money to the markets. Let the naysayers have their word—they probably weren't around to tell you how to make money 8 years or 9 years ago. I was. We did. End of story.”
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They stayed with a very poor family.
When they returned, the father asked the son what he thought of their trip. "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son. "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."
Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing?
So if Wall Street is dead, was it murder or suicide? I suppose it doesn’t really matter at this point. But whatever happens/happened with the bailout, don’t bail out!
