Back To Reality

After a two week vacation, it's back to reality... workin' for "the man"...

I blame my parents for the fact that I have to work for a living. If they'd seen to it that I was independently wealthy I wouldn't have to endure this.

:-)

Anyway, the markets have been rallying hard. Look back at what I was posting last winter as we were nosediving. I said that once we hit bottom that a 50% rip roaring, rip your face off rally would ensue as everyone screamed that the worst was over. I do wish I'd caught more of the rally but it caught me off guard and early on I thought it was yet another fake out. But it was for real. Impressive.

And sure enough the talking heads are all claiming that all is right with the world again. Don't believe it. Think about it... has anything been "fixed"? No. Smoke and mirrors and accounting rule changes simply give the illusion that things are better.

How high will unemployment get? (the REAL unemployment rate)
How high will the foreclosure rate get?
How stagnant will wages be?
How far in the hole will local and state gov'ts get?

I wish that everything was rosey and that we, as a country, would simply snap right back to where we were. Well not really. We'd gotten out of control with spending and this is the payback. Time to get back to reality.

Here is a good read. Easier to read in FULL SCREEN mode. Just some things to keep in mind and look at before falling for the "All is fine" mantra being chanted everywhere.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17702821/The-End-of-the-End-of-the-Recession

A couple of quick notes about the vacation... 1600 miles driven from Seattle to San Diego was fantastic and beautiful. The top 3 highlights of the trip were Alcatraz, Redwood National Forest and San Diego.

I do look forward to a lazy week at the beach next summer.