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ghostrunner wrote:

planet pujolsian wrote:In light of the unavoidable recession, how are people handling their investments differently?

I think it's usually considered a good time to buy, if you can manage it. The general public freaks out and stocks drop to more affordable prices, only to go up again once things stabilize.

Absolutely, put more in the market as it is in decline. If we could time it perfectly, you buy now and sell last year, but obviously we can't. Asset allocation is the most critical component of a successful long term portfolio. Stick to your guns, make small adjustments, rebalance quarterly, and you'll be alright in the long run.

i think so

The int'l markets are diving today. Bush's economic stimulus plan to just cut taxes isn't convincing anyone. When the US markets open back up tomorrow morning, expect the NYSE to fall another 3% or so.

In short: the recession is here and now.

heyzeus wrote:The int'l markets are diving today. Bush's economic stimulus plan to just cut taxes isn't convincing anyone. When the US markets open back up tomorrow morning, expect the NYSE to fall another 3% or so.

In short: the recession is here and now.

I don't want to hear about tomorrow, zeus. I just want to bask in the present knowing that for one day, those smug Canadians have nothing on us.

heyzeus wrote:The int'l markets are diving today. Bush's economic stimulus plan to just cut taxes isn't convincing anyone.

Congressional Democrats seem to think this is a great plan too. Everyone gets a check! Can you tell it's an election year?

ghostrunner wrote:

planet pujolsian wrote:In light of the unavoidable recession, how are people handling their investments differently?

I think it's usually considered a good time to buy, if you can manage it. The general public freaks out and stocks drop to more affordable prices, only to go up again once things stabilize.

Everything is on sale. I'm buying.

I don't tinker with asset allocation much. I have my allocation set and let my 401(k) rebalance automatically once/year.

Arthur Dent wrote:

heyzeus wrote:The int'l markets are diving today. Bush's economic stimulus plan to just cut taxes isn't convincing anyone.

Congressional Democrats seem to think this is a great plan too. Everyone gets a check! Can you tell it's an election year?

Good thing they're busy having hearings about baseball players. It's not American government if you don't utter aloud "My God, what are we doing" at least once a day.

To me, sending out tax rebate checks is like trying to start a broken lawnmower by pushing in the choke again.

IMO, the economy has slowed down because too much money flows out of the system (overseas), and the pay for upper management is too high.

Popeye_Card wrote:IMO, the economy has slowed down because too much money flows out of the system (overseas)

I was going to say that the decline in the dollar ought to fix this, but checking the data, it looks like the trade deficit continues to grow (even adjusted for inflation and growth). Anybody know how this could happen? If imports become more expensive, you'd think we'd buy less of them. If exports become more profitable, you'd think we'd make more on them. What's going on?

Quick analysis. Note for the record that I am not an economist.

If they hand, say, $800 to every taxpaying American (let's say for easy numbers, 125 million), that's $100 billion dollars they are injecting into the American economy. That's a good chunk of change, and it's quite likely that the majority of it will be spent on consumer goods, which is good. However, a good chunk of consumer goods that are affordable for $800 per person are going to probably be imported. So a chunk of the money goes to the American economy, while a large chunk goes overseas.

OR, we could invest $100 billion into capital projects on American soil. Mass transit systems, etc. setting up the US infrastructure to work better for the next century. A good chunk of this money finds it's way back to the American ledger--payroll for employees, materials, etc.

To me, the rebates are a ploy for an election year. I don't think giving American consumers money to buy more cheap disposable crap is going to help the economy much overall. It just further perpetuates what's wrong with the economy. The American ideal that quantity is more important than quality.