Yes, there is some good financial news

As a frequent poster to “Talkback”, most often criticizing Paul for his negative reporting, I just wanted to post again to applaud the balance of this piece. Kudos!

Is this a good news? I doubt it. This is a confidence matter. I think most stocks are influenced by the market sentiments, being a good, decent earning company, or a “bad” managed companies. Then, why invest your hard earned money on these uncertainty times. Sorry, not uncertain. It is certainly a bearish market. Investing today and see your investment shrunk in the following day, maybe the following week. Is this a brilliant idea? Better wait for the market to settled and clearly heading into the positive direction only we act, don’t you agree? Otherwise selling short in future markets is also a good choice!

My experience is not that prices are flat. That means either my experience or the government is lying. Guess who has a history of lying? Wasan’t it in the Kennedy administration that some official asserted that the government has the right to lie to the people?

Can someone PLEASE explain to me how the February CPI index that inflation remained “flat” is good news?? OK, OK, if it were totally legit and inclusive of everything then I’d agree. But in case anyone hadn’t noticed, the CPI EXCLUDES (yes, you read that right)…EXCLUDES Food and Energy costs. Wait a minute…if you exclude food and energy prices then yeah they’re right, inflation really isn’t a factor. But if you’re like the rest of us, and need to heat your home in the winter, and….oh yeah….EAT….then, chances are, you’re not spending money on discretionary items, but more likely just trying to feed your family and get by.

Despite the “one day” jump, and cries that “the good ole days are back!” (that we hear 2-3 times per week from Wall Street), we will be right back to square one on Monday.

Everyone likes to say it’s a “confidence” issue. Give me a break. I feel absolutely confident that if gas weren’t costing me over $3 a gallon, and milk weren’t $7 a gallon, I’d have extra money to kick around on frivilous items. But guess what, necessities first.

The American consumer STILL has no money to spend. My prediction for next week: The market tanks on Monday. Tuesday the Fed once again caves to pressure from Wall Street and lowers interest rates again. By Friday, gas is up to $3.50 a gallon, and groceries all go up 25%. Everyone on Wall Street cheers because everything is good again, and then it all plummets again the following week.

This economy is a total joke. We are actively sliding into the Greater Depression – mark my words. Those too stupid to listen, or too caught up in “wishful thinking”, will ignore these warnings at their own peril.

On the bright side, with the ever increasing cost of commodities, within one year it will be cheaper to burn dollar bills to heat your home, than to buy firewood. Can anyone say Weimar Republic?

Overspending and skyrocketing debt got us into this mess. We cannot, (I repeat) CANNOT spend our way out of this recession. We need to allow it to happen, all of the bad debt will be cleansed out, and the economy will be better for it in the long run.

Throwing money out of a helicopter is short-sighted and will only hurt us further. Does anyone thing skyrocketing prices due to increasing inflation will save the economy? Pretty soon foreign investors will begin cashing out their U.S. investments, and we will be essentially bankrupt as a nation.

If we continue to intentionally devalue our dollar at the current rate, it will be good for nothing more than toilet paper. America will be a third world country, and our currency will be a laughing stock to the rest of the world.

Thanks a lot Helicopter Ben, and a special thank you to the wonderful leadership we have in Washington, who cares more about getting re-elected than saving our country.

What a sad state of affairs…

Hi VI. Please take a look at the site again. We have the story up on our site right now. It is a link directly under the main story at the top of the page. I think that what happened was at the time when you were looking at the home page, the story was in the process of being moved from the Latest News section, where it was all morning, to the spot underneath the lead story. So trust me. It had nothing to do with censorship. It was just a simple matter of moving stories around on the site and it was temporarily off the page while it was being moved. Sorry to bore everyone with a look at how the sausage gets made, so to speak. I just wanted to reassure you that the story is up on our home page as of right now, 12:41 EST on Friday March 14.

Take care everyone and have a great weekend.

PRL

No if the economy is driven by the consumer then I now see a slow down through all of 2008. With gas and food costs increasing everyday the pullback will start showing up company reports its effects on the markets will not be positive

I read LaMonica’s article early this morning and found it a refreshing blast of unbiased, balanced reporting of the economic whirlwind this country is experiencing. But much to my dismay and utter outrage, I cannot find this article on the front page of CNN money! WHAT HAPPENED to our ammendment rights to FREEDOM OF THE PRESS? Is is only freedom if the reports are within the boundaries of CNN’S goal to only report the NEGATIVE information! As my grandmother said “Shame on you”!
La Monica-I am proud that you FINALLY were the REPORTER that you have worked hard to become by writing the balanced view of things and admitting that many sectors of the economy are thriving, and keeping their footing! Our economy is indeed attempting to find it’s way through all the corruption in the banking mess and mortgage fiasco due to the greed of a few! I, among many, want to see this corruption cleaned up so that the money that is in the economy can be in the hands of those who want to use it properly and not for their own selfish gain! Apparently, CNN censors the truth and only wants to use the overstated, overinflammatory superlatives that cause fear and panic, when indeed, thier predictions have turned out WRONG with the proof of the latest “inflationary” news! Thank you LaMonica and may your tribe increase! I for one am amazed that the GOOD AND BALANCED AND TRUTHFUL news is shortlived, less than one hour on the front page, and yet the bad news remains until the Stock Market Bell at the end of the day.

I find it interesting that no one is commenting today on your good news, further I see that your good news article only had a short shelf life, I guess CNN is not ready to give it up yet, thus proving they are truly the gloom and doomers.

Now is always the time to look for long term investments. The stock market just isn’t the place for that now. Nor has it been for quite a while. There was a time when buying stock was an investment in a company – in a viable, working, business. Now we are buying the stock, not the business. The CEOs are concerned about the stock, not the business. It is short term speculating, gambling and game playing. Personally, I think long term health of our businesses, and thus our economy, will require a change here. Huge amounts of money going out of the system on daily, even hourly, volatility has to stop. A few get rich, the rest of us bleed a little to make it happen. Long term investment became a joke. There is no “investment” in the market. There is only speculating. Long term health is always sacrificed for short term gains.

If one wants long term investment, go find a healthy private company with owners who care about its long term health that could benefit from a cash inflow, and invest.

That’s my rant for the morning. Who ever thinks inflation didn’t happen this month isn’t buying anything.

Thank you, grumpie and dopey must have gotten some sleep last night! La Monica has had a moment of psychological mind set change – he woke up to discover that all is not lost, the sky is not falling, and maybe by the grace of God we have a little more time to get our finances in order.
I too am a realist, the demographics are really scarey -but if I invest prudently now,perhaps, I can partake in a great wealth transfer. Just like in ‘29 – wealth was not lost, it just changed hands. I for one will be ready!

P.S I wore really hot bell bottoms, but I also remember sitting in gas lines with my even numbered license tag. Hey there is an idea La Monica -why don’t you start a national day of volunteer gas rationing – let OPEC feel what it would be like to have no one buying their “liquid gold.