Good point, Jeff in Boston!

Shall I order the descendants of the string quartet which perished on Titanic to whip up a new melody? Sorry to be sardonic. What I mean is, how many white collar workers laughed in the face of unions because they (unions)impeded
job advancement, mobility, and pay in the Nineties? Way to go, serving your job up rawhide. Let me get this straight: outsourcing and upgrading bring more American jobs,huh? Is that why manufacturing
has been on a tear in this country? We exported most of those jobs, and reimported them through foreign companies whom we support with all our international exposure.
These foreign nations are receiving capital,their employees are receiving work,
and our American infrastructure and dollar are being propped by sovereign wealth funds.
I just wait for the day when China pulls a Cuba or Venezuela and nationalizes itself completely. Whoosh! No more American wealth.
employees are rece

When Profit is the King then we are all peasants.

There is no free lunch no matter how many times the shillsteins on wall street tell there is.

Im an unemployed bookkeeper in Va. The ecomony and job market sucks pretty bad. I’ve looked at financial statements most of my life. I’ve heard how individuals were in debt. In my unemployment, I decided to maybe learn something about the stock market and what I saw astonished me. I saw companies that are the typical american citizen the media talks about that is in debt. These companies financial were debt ridden. Some that I saw would take years if ever to get out of debt. This debt analogy isn’t just the american citizens.

I don’t have all the answers and maybe I don’t have this one pegged, but America has driven the world markets. If America has a problem, then the whole world has a problem. Americans buy for sure, more so than China and India. If we quit buying then they have a problem. So hold on China, your in for a ride. Our country isn’t going to be buying so much.

Yes I’ve lost confidence in American corporations, and America itself. I’ve often thought recently that we should rename our country “The Corporate States of America”. Until we unite as a people and change lots of things we are in trouble.

Why NOT invest in a better run company? The CEO’s in Japan will kill themselves when the company does poorly. The CEO’s in America will kindly lay off a large fraction of their workforce and pay themselves out heavily (hundreds times their average employee’s salary) in stock options and tax shelters. Then you have to wonder about the companies that outsource, in my opinion they’re doomed to fail.

It would make sense to blame this on the incompetant and corrupt CEO’s of American businesses, not the average Joe who needs an IRA to supplement his missing social security insurance.

THIS is why America cannot compete in the international market.

Mohammed in AL seems to think that no other country is stupid enough to adopt our insane fiscal policies. I would say:

Rolling on the floor laughing.

Yes, they are that stupid. They did, they are, they will. China looks more like the US every day. So does India. Stock markets, loose money, consumer spending, government spending, waste, consumption. A few are making huge amounts of money, most are still in poverty with no likely change in site. They are not building true infrastructure, but glossy buildings and junk for sale to US. Just wait and see. The road we are on today, the situation Japan has been in for a decade, these will hit the “emerging” markets too.

Making, selling, buying, using up then throwing away and buying new “stuff” is NOT a viable stable long term economy. We are getting the lesson in that “now”. China and India should pay attention. But they wont. Its too much fun getting rich.

For Kyle in NY: Why can’t we take people like this out and shoot them? “All empires must fall.” Oh, so you’re just going to help the process. Go live in a third world county, you American hating putz!

We buy half of all our cars from Japan and almost everything we buy from big box home improvement and discount stores is made in China. Our 2007 trade deficit with Japan and China alone was $345 billion! So why not put all of our money overseas! What the hell - there are so few citizens that give a damn about the United States, we’re doomed anyways. Self-centered and “all about me” is what Americans have become. The “Greatest Generation” have turned the reins over to the “Clueless Generation.” The presidential election is absolute proof that we are the “American Idol” generation: vacant, self-serving, with no degree of honor. The Government’s a joke and the media’s a bunch of agenda-driven whores with no journalistic integrity. I digress. Don’t you just love it - getting behind a guy on the highway in a Toyota Sequoia with a “Pride in America” bumper sticker? His transaction alone sent at least $5K to Japan and with millions like him, billions are going overseas. But since his Sequoia was “built in America” (they send the parts over here and “assemble” it, which does little or nothing for our economy), he feels good about himself. Like I said - clueless. That’d be like that bicycle that you buy at the big box discount store that has “Made in China” on it. I guess when you take it out of the box and put it together, that makes it “Made in America.” Stupid, stupid, stupid. And for those who say “I buy imports for quality?” The absolute, scientifically verifiable fact is that there isn’t a bad new car on the road and the statistical “margin of error” is insignificant. And of course, even if products from American countries were of slightly less quality by no means can you buy them! No, no. Got to pay a premium for perceived but untrue quality and send the money overseas! So keep at it America. We deserve to lose it all.

I think this is a great time to buy stocks — buy low, sell high. Isn’t that the investment strategy? Although my investrment portfolio has suffered loss on paper, I haven’t sold a single share. I intend to continue to buy stocks every month. I have 27 more years to retirement, and that’s 27 years of investing and watching compounding work for me. I’ll take the bad with the good. I’ll just make sure to sell when times are good.

You think people would notice corporations, like K Mart and others that reorganize and leave shareholders with worthless stock,then reorganize,(with the blessing of the courts)with the same managers,assets,and cash.You would think these same people then would then look for trustworthy systems with which to invest.

America is all but finished. The middle-class has been squeezed via heightened tax burdens and lower pay that has not kept up with expenses.

That’s all well and good…..but then it turns out the Middle-class is 80% of the economy!

I have lost faith in most of America’s captains of industry.

Just look at what is going on in business today. Nothing but over bloated paychecks, levergaing to the hilt, and nor responsibility for leading a company to its demise.

And what are they teaching our new leaders in B-schools these days? Maybe a class grounded in ethics and social responsibility should be added.

We need to get back on the ball in this country, or someone else will be eating our lunch. Foreign investors will only bail us out for so long before the magic wears off.

My “tax rebate” will go into MERKX the day that it posts!

Yes! My complete 401K is now ALL Foreign. There is a reason they call them “emerging” markets. The long term look out for America is not good. All empires must fall.

Are we forgetting something? The world economy today is being fueled directly by deficit spending of the United states of America. Where ever you look and how ever you look at it, the fool hardy spending of the US government, and the public is helping the other countries grow while the US government and public commit financial suicide. If the Us economy “tanks” and believe me it needs to for a while, no other country is stupid enough to step into the breach and adopt the same stupid fiscal policies of the US.

American companies and the American economy are in a retrenechment period. So is the rest of the world. While retail investors (as measured by mutual fund flows) may be piling money into non-US investments, the data does not bear out that it is the overall trend. Year-to-date as of this morning’s open, the S&P 500, DJIA and NASDAQ Composite were down 9.71%, 7.25% and 14%. The broad market indices in England, France, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Japan and China were all down between 10.89% and 18.28%, with the average down around 13%.

It seems to me quite hypocritical that all the “Journalists” for the financial industry are questioning where the money is going. Naturally it is following all the jobs in America..Heading overseas. When the economy is good business complains about paying labor, and lay off workers so they keep all the profit from the fruits of labor. People retrain and start over then business complains they can’t find workers, so they send jobs overseas. No jobs = No Income = lower and lower spending = lower profits = more layoffs, etc etc.
Where does it all end? Only when US Corporations realize that if they want our economy to survive, THEY need to absorb some of the hit, stabilize and eventually increase the labor force here, so that our consumer driven economic engine can run. Money is fuel for the engine, and as long as corporate America hoards it all we’ll never get better.

A year ago, the Chinese SSE Composite Index stood at 3052. This morning it opened at 3378. Mid-October it hit 6124. Tell me I’ve blinked and missed another bubble ?!?

I certainly have not lost faith in US companies, or US stocks, over the long term. I also don’t think some of the problems we face in the US are necessarily any better in other parts of the world. We’re still innovating, and the US economy is still very flexible. However, US spending on education and research is down thanks to politics, and politicians also refuse to deal with difficult long term issues for fear of angering special interests. Ultimately, I think the people are going to have to demand a strong long term vision of our politicians, but right now we’re mostly concerned with next month and next year. The country is also deeply divided on how to deal with important issues, including war/terrorism, the economy, energy, immigration, and the environment. (So much for the “uniter, not a divider” promise… We need a positive, long term vision to lessen the infighting and restore optimism in America. Once we find that vision and rediscover our optimism, the US economy, US stocks, and US companies will look dramatically better.

For growth investors, US stocks are at a disadvantage: there is very little growth in the US. But, US large-cap stocks have growth in their overseas divisions (ever hear of GE, GM, and Intel ?). Foreign growth stocks are not cheap.

For value investors, US stocks are at a big advantage: they are very cheap relative to past, present, and future earnings (after stripping out homebuilders and financials). Foreign value stocks are not cheap.

For employees, many of the best opportunities are in private companies and small public companies; the big guys are all laying off employees for various reasons.

The only constant this year is change.

I am investing >50% of my 401K assests outside the US. Too much greed, too little regulation and incentive to be honest for companies in this country.

I wouldn’t say that foreign stocks are better investments than the US-based ones. They are just growing at a faster pace momentarily. You have to remember though that many of the new and emerging markets are not very regulated. Here there are law-making bodies and agencies that control the rules of the market. I don’t trust the overseas markets yet, especially in places like China and India. I

I think the US economy is in for a retrenchment. The housing mess is only a symptom of long term weakness. The wild stock speculatins, consumer debt and discretionary income, the aging of the polulation, and healthcare costs are finally catching up to us. Our economy will look more like Europe. I also think that the vast overseas outsourcing is leaving very few jobs here. No jobs. No spending. No spending. No corporate revenue. No Corp rev., no investment. No investment, no economic growth. Vision, we lack long term vision. the chase for dollars has left us in a tails chasing death spiral. Better get friendly with your neighbor, you’re going to need each other in the coming years. Companies are going to have to realize that jobs have to be good and decent here in the US in order for this economy to be robust.

In the long term, I see no alternative but to invest overseas. We have an aging workforce from slow population growth, we’ve already lost our manufacturing base, and we’re exporting our technological base. We won’t make painful structural changes and we won’t spend money on education. Developing nations like India and China have nowhere to go but up.

As an investor I have little respect for the executives running many American companies…a big bunch of cry babies. The American middle class keeps coming to work and executing decisions made above and when things blow up, they pay the price. Of course, the execs compensation is protected (heck, they may even be rewarded!). When investors see REAL leadership, they’ll reinvest here. After all, isn’t it Toyota, Nissan, Honda and various European companies that are investing in plants and labor in the USA?

No, I have not lost confidence in American companies. Our economy is the strongest in the world. That said, many very strong companies are found outside the USA and they are world beaters in every way. I have about 20% of my investments in international stock.