NY Times: The Post-Binge World

[MattH]

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

...

At their core, markets are propelled by fear and greed. They’re just
the balance at any given moment of those two impulses. Over the long
run, you cannot spin the market. You cannot sweet talk it into going up
or beg it not to go down. It’s going to do whatever it’s going to do —
whichever way greed and fear tug it. And the market always bats last
and it always bats a thousand.

What am I saying? We are where we are today because we went on a
credit binge and we’re now paying the price. Because it was the biggest
credit binge the world has ever been on, a lot of wealth is going to be
wiped out. Now what you’re witnessing is the market re-evaluating and
re-pricing every asset in the world, without mercy, telling each stock,
bond and bank what its value is in a post-credit binge world.

...

 NY Times article

[haulingthescoreup]

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MattH quoted:

Now what you’re witnessing is the market re-evaluating and
re-pricing every asset in the world, without mercy, telling each stock,
bond and bank what its value is in a post-credit binge world.

---

The financial world goes Twelve Stepping. Finally.

[marty56]

Not so long ago, my own little credit binge cost me >70k?, a relationship and almost my job.  Took me 5 years to recover.  Wall Street and the government could learn a thing or two from me I supose.

[Anonymous]

We can all learn from you Marty

In truth, the market will attempt to do what Friedman states but the fears of investors have deflated the stock prices of businesses with very little piece of the credit pie. Some like utility companies are the most stable investments because we will all continue to purchase power and natural gas (in the winter), no matter what our 401k fund looks like.

Some stocks were very inflated, but some are very deflated right now.

I totally agree with his credit binge though - and I hope we move to a nation that saves before expenditures.

[MattH]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

---

MattH quoted:

Now what you’re witnessing is the market re-evaluating and
re-pricing every asset in the world, without mercy, telling each stock,
bond and bank what its value is in a post-credit binge world.

---

The financial world goes Twelve Stepping. Finally.

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Unfortunately, because the financial world is attempting to cold-turkey its addiction to leveraging it will suffer delerium tremens for a while.

[Anonymous]

I am _never_ thrilled to try out the stock market....the brokers & dealers are always waiting to rip me off with the comissions & spreads.

It's no wonder who's driving all the Mercedes that are parked in the $25 / hr midtown Manhattan garages when I go into the city (I prefer to walk).  Let them all go to the poorhouse as far as I'm concerned (unfortunately the government thinks otherwise and is willing to help pay off their Mercedes with 700 billion).

Dan