Wild west at Walmart. Cleanup on aisle 19.

If I were 59 and a half all my money would be out of it today. This market has been inflated by the $85 billion a month that was being pushed into the economy in an effort to hide what is going on. Even though that amount has been reduced it is still going in. One of these days it will have to stop and when it does or worst yet when they start taking it back out we are in trouble. That is how I see it and again want to be wrong. This crap just does not make sense to me at all. :(

It's pure speculation. They are betting that people are willing to pay for entertainment, and then pay a few more $$$'s to keep being entertained based on any particular concept. Some people value entertainment enough to drop a couple of bucks here and there. What did PT Barnum say "There's a sucker born every minute" ?

I don't get people doing IPO's on aps for phones. There is nothing real.

I was listening to a local (conservative) talk radio show this morning and he had on a finance guy who just wouldn't stop going on about how great the market was looking. If I had had more time to wait on the line, I would have called in to him and asked him how he could justify investing in a stock market being fueled entirely by speculation, given the nature of the economy.

Try to bloom where you are planted.
No job is truly crappy. Any job worth doing is worth doing well AND you still have your free time to develop your talents.
I began my own business in my spare time and within a couple of years could work full-time at said business.
If you are here in the Gulch, you hold much promise.

"My point was that they're beginning to see the light. "
Good. They're supposed to be the move-fast-and-break-things generation, according to the stereotype. It's unbecoming for them to wait for politicians to take action.

Funny thing is that they may focus on Obama being black, but I'd pretty much forgotten that, until reminded.

Exactly -- I try to bring some of my liberal friends up-to-speed:
1. The economy is in a sh*t hole.
2. It's getting worse.
3. What there is of the economy is a full-spectrum fraud.
Then I calmly walk through the details. Then I am told that I simply hate this current president because he is black. Since there are only so many hours in the day, I have reduced my dialog with these liberals (in the context of discussions regarding Reality) and instead work to CYA is things continue to deteriorate.

Whoops. I have no need to avoid them, I'm retired, come across them in my travels, and chat with them. My point was that they're beginning to see the light.

ah, please point out where the 'infinitive' is in that sentence?
thx.

Moneynews? I prefer http://www.marketminder.com/

"Would I still be in this crappy job if there were a real Recovery going on?!"
My unsolicited advice is to avoid these people. Find people who are not in a crappy job, are making things happen, (i.e. the rich people who some love to hate) and help them do their thing. If you're like me you graduated from college at age 22, and three years seems like forever, but another three years will pass soon enough, and you want to be doing something really cool at that time.

I took a job at age 24 that was really good at first, but I stayed there for five years after I had learned everything I needed from them. I was cautious. I had negative or zero net worth at that time. It seemed like a big deal, but what I needed was not worry about it and go find some people who were kicking butt and solving problems. Being around people who are victims or are waiting for a politician before finding someone's problem and serving people (for money) wears you down and you don't even know it. "The recovery" doesn't exist per se. It's all people going out and helping one another for money.

There are so many hidden costs that comprehensive stats likely don't exist. We all know that this kind of 'free' care isn't free. Again, who stands to benefit as long as the disconnect is maintained that camouflages the various ways these costs are passed along?

The squeeze on some demographics won't be noticed...after all, it's just a small percentage, right? That some producers will have to scale back, or put on hold, their plans shouldn't matter that much...they can afford it, right? That someone with a great new business idea is hesitant to start up because of all the healthcare and legal hassles won't be noticed....

After all, "what difference at this point does it make?"

I suck at timing, so I rarely touch options.

However, seeing multiples in the 18-22 range doesn't give me a lot of confidence either. I'd like to see those back down to the 12-16 range.

Santa Claus will come to the rescue. Of course the elves will be on strike, the reindeer will be too malnourished to fly anymore and Santa is suffering from sleep fatigue but worry not, congress will pass a law so that it can never happen again. Bottom line: We will implode, MOT (matter of time).

The most positive thing is the Young people, the same ones who bought into "Hope & Change",
They see through The SPIN.
The most common response from 20-somethings, talking about *The Recovery* is:
"What Recovery?!
"Would I still be in this crappy job if there were a real Recovery going on?!"

Sad, 25, saddled with debt, and can't plan for a future.

One point about the premiums. If you go to the horse or dog track there are 1 or two winners for hundreds of losers. That is a rough translation of forcing the healthy to pay all the bills. It's really no different than forcing the working to pay all the bills or demanding the wealthy pay their fair share. Tight now, decision makers are toying with the options. They can cut work hours to less than 30, or cut employees to less than 50, or give employees the cash for healthcare and pay the penalty, or comply fully and pass the cost to consumers, who are already out of cash. Each CEO will decided what's best for his business and stakeholders. Did I mention the big "0" fosters a lot of indecision?

This will most likely be a mixed bag of decisions with workers seeing the full spectrum of unexpected consequences. The bottom line for me is health care represents 17-18% of GNP. The best growth year we have had since the crash has bee 2.5% up. If our benevolent dictator tampers with 17% and your best is 2.5% growth where does that leave us? My guess is somewhere between -5% and -15%. How can that be? Look at the history of things he has "fixed" and winners he has picked. He a card carrying socialist, his fix is not what the Doctor ordered.

Maybe demand for consumer goods has peaked and people are shifting more to experiences and services.

The electronics world appears to be going strong too.

I expect another two years of expansion, but my crystal ball sucks. If I had any ability to predict, I'd be getting rich trading options.

Where is that extra money going? Maybe people are buying more services covered by the insurance, e.g. maternity care, mental health. I am **not** saying it's a good thing for people to spend money based on a gov't plan. I'm just wondering where the money is going in the short run.

You have to put disappointed earnings into perspective. What disappoints the street is far different than saying the economy is not recovering.

Instead, I would say the economy isn't recovering as fast as Wall Street expects, which explains why stock multiples are still very high.

However, if you look at Union Pacific Railroad earnings, they're good. If you look at Disney, they're earnings are good. If you look at Chipotle's earnings, they're also good.