Here is what changed:
We survived:
Collapse of Bear, Lehman, Wachovia, ML, Wamu, AIG, Fannie and Freddie,
Seizing of credit markets, $4/Gallon Gas, higher mortgage rates, plenty of foreclosures, and oh yeah... equity markets down 50% or so.
Here are the good parts:
Liquidity returning, Mortgage rates sub 5%, great real estate prices, cheapest gas and energy prices in over 5 years.
Walmart has great prices, new president, historically low taxes, and lets face it... life for the most part is not worse now than it was 10 years ago.
Add to that new jobs will be created by the trillions of dollars to be spent rebuilding infrastructure, lean corporate balance sheets, it aint all bad. Dollar is getting stronger. GM/Ford will be helped and will survive. Most americans have short term memory and have an ancy to push the trade button.
So now, what I can tell you from the industry, is that the vast majority of the six pack joe's that trade their ira's, are out of the market... and as soon as they get a whiff of things going up, they will pile on and start running it up.
If things were going to get worse, we would see it in gold, and guess what, its been forming lower highs, and lower lows.
While we may not be 100% through the mess, we are starting to see some lights at the end of the tunnel.
In the worst case, even if we hit depression, the money made shorting stuff... is going to be the least of anyone's concern. But the fed has shown, they are pulling out all stops to get this taken care of and resolved. As much as I hate politicians, they will not let this country bankrupt itself, and if they do, like I said, money is the least of my concerns.
