Well, it was all up the Congress and the Senate to save our bacon last week and the result could not have been worse. Now we await the actions of the G-7 today, a band of merry men that just couldn’t be more clueless. I will be watching the developments with great interest as the day progresses. The chief economist for the IMF said yesterday that the world markets could easily plunge another 20% if something isn’t done immediately.
Morgan Stanley will be an interesting one to watch if things get hairy. Will Mitsubishi take their bat and ball and go home? I know I would. GM is a health care provider that happens to make cars and will not survive in my opinion. States, local governments, and countries are on the verge, and stock markets routinely yell “no mas” and shut down for days. Still not a sign of a bottom if you ask me, but I’ve been wrong before. Earnings should be horrible and the contagion should spread to industries other than financial in the coming weeks and months. Joe Sixpack has been destroyed through all this, and his 401k is now a 201k. If you think the consumer was dead, you haven’t seen anything yet in my humble opinion. I will be checking throughout the day.
The lifeboat is quickly running out of flares.