No matter how hard I try to avoid it, the onslaught of depressing news, dire forecasts and plummeting markets beats down upon my head like a winter thunderstorm. Thanksgiving is around the corner. I don’t even care. All I worry about is how to cut corners, make-do and pray that the pink slip doesn’t show [...]

It was all too orchestrated for me to believe. Thursday’s huge turnaround rush into the markets was just another example of investors trying to identify a bottom. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–that is not how bottoms are formed.

Does anyone seriously believe that Congress is not going to bail out the auto industry? After all, a lot of labor money has been funneled into various political campaigns throughout the years. Detroit auto workers also vote and who wants 3 million unemployed voters casting their ballots against you in two years. Even the president-elect [...]

They call it “TARP” for Troubled Assets Relief Program and it was intended to rescue banks buried under a mountain of toxic sub prime mortgage paper. But a funny thing has happened in the meantime. It appears the money is going to everything but buying up toxic paper.

Don’t shoot the messenger. Believe me, I would be happy to find a few silver linings in this month’s gathering black clouds but it may well prove impossible. October was a brutal month for the economy and just how bad it was will be revealed over the next few weeks.

Over the last two days every media outlet, newsletter and forecaster have rushed to offer their views on how you the investor will be affected by the election of our next president. Recommendations on how to profit or protect your portfolio from changes in taxes, healthcare, energy, finance, regulation and so on have formed a [...]