Yes, many people succumbed to a gilded paper wealth, a too good to be true golden retirement, some of it "easy money". We will write many words about it, there will be literature and investor guidance to help us deal with the breakdown of illusion. However, I'm glad you distinguished between the active investors who gambled with risk and others like my parents, whose ministerial pension fund invested in Enron and until a significant portion of it was gone, they were not aware of any problems, much less that their fund invested in Enron. They had too much trust, not enough business sense and now, not enough to keep their home. And there were too many like them, such as them. Harry, do you think there will be enough of a market "bump" between now and November to reassure the American public that their leaders are doing what is best for the country, and by global extension, everyone else on this domino planet? My gut feeling is now it will be the politicians' and the economists' jobs to see if they can persuade everyday Americans, not just serious bargain hunting investors, that there is good, substantiated reason to believe in what they've been told about an forthcoming economic recovery. Dubya and Dick have their hands full, considering they don't have clean hands. As much as I'd like Dubya to be a one-term president, I certainly don't want anymore stumbling erratic leadership that could make things worse. To paraphrase something JK Galbraith said years ago, once those who survived the 1929 Crash and Great Depression are gone, the lessons of those years will be forgotten and we will repeat them. That is NOT an indictment against economy professors, mind you, but a recognition that people don't always learn the great lessons permanently. History shows that over and over. I look ahead and see, just to name a few, too many baby boomers who can't afford to retire, houses being remodeled to accommodate multiple generations again (not so bad), and marketing programs taking a 360 degree turn away from the golden retirement too many people believed would happen. There could even be some positives to come from this psychological and financial jolt. Since we still teach about the great impact the Great Depression had on a half century of American lives and institutions, what lesson plans are being written to catalogue and understand this today's events? I certainly don't want anything else worse to happen, certainly not any more of my own family members, but if there is anything good to come of sad circumstances like this it may be that people will think more about achievable goals, realistic lifestyles and appreciating value in what they already have in each other. I mean, it really doesn't matter that at my age I will continue to drive a used car because I'd rather have an updated PC, or that I'm simplifying and qualifying my life. What matters is what our leaders can accomplish and what young people like my 25-year old daughter believe and dream about. Karen
Karen, A problem occurs with "losses" in the stock market because of the psychological makeup of people. If they buy (say) $20,000 worth of stock and it soars to a paper value of $200,000, they love it. If it now collapses to $100,000, they don't say "I've only made $80,000. They cry because they have lost $100,000. But, don't you cry for them. On the other hand, if they bought high flying stocks recently, they may well have lost a pile. However, again don't cry for them. They were speculating and it didn't pay off as they expected. You can sympathize with them, but no more than you might sympathize with someone who dropped a pile at the blackjack tables at Vegas. This has nothing to do with the shenanigans at Enron and elsewhere. It seems to me that there is fraud somewhere, if they can find it among the scuttling executives. Harry ________________________________________ Karen wrote: >I like words. They are powerful, infectious and the best ones have >tenacity. You can define and redefine a whole generation, a movement, or, >in some cases, an entire government. > >See Newsweek s Alter & Fineman A Dynasty s Dilemma @ ><http://www.msnbc.com/news/782887.asp>http://www.msnbc.com/news/782887.asp >where you ll see the phrase, Crime in the suites alluding to Bush 43s >problem linking him to 41s It s the Economy, Stupid legacy. > >It seems past time that Karl Rove find in his crystal ball the lessons >from history that we need to do what is good for the country, not for >electoral victory. That battle will take care of itself if Bush-Cheney are >able to convince voters they are authentic, working to represent all >Americans, not just the vested, the lobbied and the funded. Please keep in >mind that workers afraid to open their 401(k) statements this month will >be receiving another one in the last days of October, just before the >November election. > >Karen ****************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 *******************************
