So Who Does Make Money in a Market Downturn?

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When stocks are sold, the money doesn't disappear. It is then in the hands of the seller. If the seller bought it some time ago, or arranged for a short sale yesterday, even if the stock as gone down from its high, (only if it has gone down from its high in a short sale) the seller makes money.

The people who lose money are those that buy at or near the high of the market, as true buys, not short sales, and hang onto the stock as it slides below where they bought it, until finally they do sell it, "at a loss" to themselves. Their loss provides a gain to the seller who sold it to them, from the paragraph above.

My guess is that getting the timing right for personal gain, is probably 25% blind luck, and 75% economic smarts. I would also guess that 95% of the time the wins go to folks AT THE HIGHER ENDS of the economic scale, where they can have access and time to learn the ins and outs of the marketplace, or pay someone who does.

Of course, if the market tanks so badly that nobody thinks anybody can make any money, then we all wind up having the government (us, our social security, grandchildrens; taxes) bail out the rich banks to get the markets happy again, so that we all stayed employed and our businesses can remain open.

Congress could have chosen to prime the pump from the bottom, giving all the consumers tons of money and limiting the interest rates on mortgages and credit cards to say 14% max, but no new purchases via credit cards till the balance is $0, and no fees above $10/month, all inclusive, but they didn't.

The rich keep on getting richer, with this kind of bailout, and eventually the country will fall apart.

Somehow I just don't think the current band-aid is going to do much for the cut to the carotid artery. Somewhere along the line an evil Bugs Bunny is going to jump up and say, "What's Up, Doc?"

We really need to retrain and retool this country in earnest, and go solar nuclear ASAP. We have 306,000,000 Americans with 50,000,000 civilian guns. We can take care of any terrorists who might get in easily. We've been playing fraidycat. Time to stop the war and fix America.

Interest Rate Caps, Foresight

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Over a year ago, in ricketyboats.blogspot.com com, I posted:

"This is fairly self explanatory. The people of this country need to pass a consititutional amendment which sets the maximum chargable interest rate at 18%, and any fees/service charges could not be used to push that figure effectively higher. Yes, South Dakota will lose its luster for credit card companies, as their 29.99 % allowable rates would be prohibited.

If you must gamble, you should not be allowed to do it with your credit cards and mortgages in such a direct fashion.

The Congress and President will of course fight this tooth and nail, supported as they are by bank and credit card lobbies. This will have to be a grass roots effort. Drive the money lenders from the temples of Washington ! "

Nowadays I am advocating an even lower rate of 14%. I wonder what they will finally adopt?

Cap Interest Rates at 14% for Consumers

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All of the efforts to save the economy are bandaids for the top. We need to help the bottom by establishing a maximum interest rate of 14%, effective immediately, for all existing and future consumer loans. Also cap all bank "fees" to $10/ month, regardless of how many ways the banks figure out to get them. ATM fees to a max of $10 per withdrawal.

By putting money back in the hand of the "little people," the economy will unfreeze. If we don't do this, there will be a depression.

An Equitable Way to Pay CEO's

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For those who think understanding a home loan should have been a no-brainer for an inner city person, you will have no trouble following this potential cap on CEO earnings. The notion is, the bigger a company is, the more stable it is at earning income. Yes GM may be the exception.

The CEO may not earn per year more than 10 million time more than the minimum wage worker who works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, all year long, divided by the total number of employees earning twice that amount, or less. If a company has just one such employee, the CEO can make 137 billion at current rates. Of course, if a company has 100,000 such employees, he will make considerably less. This will incentivize paying more to existing employees, and raising the minimum wage. It will also discourage MegaCorps.

Sarah Palin's Secret New Age'er Connection

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At the site www.noogenesis.com, there is a discussion of teaching techiques and the use of phrases of praise. Here's the part most closely associated with Palin, the perfect elementary school teacher.

"Not all situations require this kind of descriptive recognition. If we are just having a conversation, and wish to encourage the speaker to tell his story, we can use minimal encourages, which are short phrases letting the speaker know you are listening (Bolton, 1979, pg 43-44):

Minimal Encourages

Tell me more. You betcha!
Oh? Yes.
For instance... Really?
I see. Gosh.
Right. And?
Then? Go on.
So? Sure.
I hear you. Darn!

Just repeating what a person says can be encouraging."

Birds of a Feather and Politics

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Sentient beings with intelligent, rational minds recognize one another regardless of what feathers, etc., they happen to be stuck with.

Flocks of all one stock, make for a boring soup.

Todd Palin for President!

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"How could you vote in such a way as to put a woman in the White House? Do you realize that in following all of the Bible baggage she comes with, Todd Palin would become the Decider?"

From one of my Comments in The Union newspaper.

Nothing like a non-elected King with a direct pipeline to God in the White House. A direct pipeline that is filled with oil....

Graphic Icon of Titanic, McCain, Palin, Flag

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This was inspired by a Patti Ann M. image of Obama against the old Soviet Union flag in a Leninesque pose. Please download and use, wherever you like.

The flag upside down is a universal symbol of distress.