It is my opinion that as long as our current administration is intent on bankrupting our country, the stock market is the last place I where I would register my confidence.   Here’s why:

1)  next waive of foreclosures due to unemployment

2)  next waive of bankruptcies due to unemployment

3)  healthcare reform and cap and trade if passed will posture us for inflation

4)  Debt our country owes to China

Stock brokers make money by charging fees.   Everytime they make a change in your portfolio they make big bucks.   Everytime they suggest a new product for you, they earn big fees.   As newer products come out, they push the products that pay them the most money.   It is a gamble and you never really know if the stock broker is working for you or for themselves.   There is just not any way to know.   The best advice, in my opinion, comes from your knowledge of your own funds.  Any of us can go to MorningStar and get a fund history.   There are other sites as well.   It’s worth your time to do your own investing.   How many of us have looked at the fees we’ve paid at the end of the year only to learn that the changes our brokers made in our accounts netted them fees of $3,000 to $5,000?   I don’t know about you but I think that’s a huge price to pay for someone to "speculate" with your money.

As stock brokers promoted "managed accounts" over the past

Good point, deber — during the last six years of GWB’s "reign" we came close to another Depression and 2008 was a terible year for the market.   GWB certainly was a polarizing president!   I couldn’t agree more.

Deber….well you can bet I won’t be taking any $20 million dollar vacations, that’s for sure:

obama and the family are planning to spend their summer break on a $20 million retreat on the wealthy playground island off Cape Cod and even seem undeterred that the property is owned by a Republican.

Libra, his spending spree affects the stock market.   Personally, I am watching the House of Democrats stepping away from Pelosi and Obama.   The democrats know they are not doing what is right for our country.   With this type of posturing, Americans by the millions have lost confidence in this administrations’s ability to get anything right.    And it is the "debt" projected out for the next ten years or so and the CBO telling Obama their figures don’t jive.   That is "uncertainty" and that is reflected in the confidence or lack thereof of Americans skipping merrily along to their brokers to invest in our country. 

Polarizing president….he has been successful in dividing our country from the day he took office.   And, unfortunately, it is getting worse.   The only good thing is that Jimmy Carter will now be off the hook.  I know he’s happy about that.  : )

Really, deber…..I’m sure everyone who saw their portfolio tank in late 2007 and all through 2008 would be interested in knowing which fact was not true:

1.  During the last six years of GWB’s "reign" we came close to another Depression

2.  2008 was a terible year for the market.  

Thankfully…….the market in 2009 is rebounding.

Deber…speaking of subprime mortgages, I found this so very interesting:

Unscrupulous borrowers: Democrats Dodd & Conrad knew about VIP treatment

Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation’s largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony.

Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn’t know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment.

Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington. Conrad’s two Countrywide mortgages in 2004 were for a beach house in Delaware and an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck in his home state of North Dakota.

Robert Feinberg, who worked in the Countrywide’s VIP section, told congressional investigators last month that the two senators were made aware that “who you know is basically how you’re coming in here.”  (MM)

It would be prudent to look at the past twenty years to assess what drives a strong market.   Democrats injected the affirmative action into our system and nurtured it.   Welcome to 2009.   It takes awhile for a self inflicted disease to matasticize.   It reared its ugly head in 2005 and John McCain recognized it and put forth the GSH Reform bill.   Unfortunately, democrats weren’t smart enough to follow his lead.   The rest is history.

It is a myth to believe that the stock market is now rebounding.   It will be a flash in the pan and people should beware.   As this administration thrives on inefficient methods which aren’t being rubberstamped by the CBO, their ivy league credibilities are tanking.   First, the failed stimulus at $787 billion, which, in no way, is responsible for the housing market rebounding, was a huge blatant attempt by the democrats to cram eight years of ignored Robin Hood techniques to rob from the rich and give to the poor not to mention to payback the campaign donations to each state.   Fortunately, there are enough economists who recognize and publish these findings.   Obama lied and the stimulus died.    Healthcare Reform was thrown together quickly and showed inefficiencies and prolonged unsustainable debt for our country and now that is being recognized and thwarted by both republicans and democrats.    So far, Obama is batting zero on his ability to get things done….correctly.  

It must be very difficult for democrats to grasp even at the seven month report card period that electing an "inexperienced" leader to lead their country in the face of a deep recession was not a good move.   The independents are sitting on the sidelines watching and listening….and they aren’t buyiing into the "Hope and Change" anymore.   It is too soon to tell how many outraged and disappointed democrats  we have.   However, one thing we do know is that 2010 will give us that information.

The thread here is "investments" and the stock market.   And to that end, I will stand firm with my opinion that Americans are very unhappy with Obama in the White House and that will be reflected in the stock market.   After all, Obama ignored the backbone of this country our small businesses.   He is too focused on his personal agenda to realize that "unemployment" is dictating the market and is lack of concern for them  will be his real Waterloo.  When the next wave of foreclosures surfaces due to those losing their jobs it will once again shock the market.   Add to that the new wave of bankrupcies and then our banks will be in trouble again.  

No one is listening anymore  to George Bush is the reason President Obama is incapable of finding the right solution to our problems.   Ronald Reagan inherited a bad recession PLUS inflation from Jimmy Carter and I don’t recall him blaming anyone.  He was the right man for the job.    He cut taxes to small businesses and forged ahead with his plan.   He wasn’t perfect but, unlike, Obama, he brought our country back together and gave us not only hope but real direction.   In short, the American people trusted his judgement at a time when it was greatly needed.   Obama hasn’t been able to do that.

Have a good day!   : )

Interesting article, Libra Lady.   Not only were people financing, refinancing and liquidating all of their equity…they were also flipping houses…It is called "greed" and it spares no party.

Thanks for posting this.   : )

Ahh……deber…..we had Republican presidents 12 out of the last 20 years.   The only Democrat president during the last 20 years was Bill Clinton who left us with a surplus……..which sadly GWB blew through.

To blame Jimmy Carter for the mess we are in is laughable………I suspect the "no one" you refer to is yourself……your vision of the world seem quite narrow…….but, then after all — how much can one get out when they spend all their days posting negative diatribes on a blog……………

We are talking about subprime mortgages and they started with affirmative action from Jimmy Carter.   My vision of the world is actually quite wide and I’m personally interested in the truth.

Your personal attacks towards me will never, in any way,  discourage me from supporting the republican party.   It seems when you between a rock and a hard place and have difficulty making your point you always refer to how you "think" I spend my days.   I understand your frustration.   I, too, have been between a rock and a hard place.   It isn’t the most comfortable place to be.

Just for your information, Bill Clinton borrowed money from social security to show a surplus.  And, the jury is out on if George Bush blew it as you term it.   History will, hopefully, be very kind to this president.   And, with what is going on, or should I say, not going on, in the White House, there’s a very good possibility that George Bush will look like a saint once Obama has done his damage based, of course, on his inexperience.

Buyer’s remorse is always hard to admit.   I understand that.   And, again, if you do not like what I post all you have to do is scroll by my posts and attach your frustration somewhere else.

As always, I wish you a good day and will remain hopeful that President Obama can get one thing right sometime this year.  After all, that is what we all want.