andylangager.net

Three points:

1. What do you think this is? A free show? I ain't tellin' nothing unless I get paid.

2. Since I am at work and currently getting paid to do work I will bump this response posting into the realm of my work responsibilities.

In short, the government bailed out AIG because they are a major player in both U.S. and global economies. There was a fear that if left to sort itself out without government interference AIG would cease to exist and the U.S. economy would experience the type of depression that would make your great-grandparents who lived through the Great Depression remember fondly the days of Hoovervilles and starving and hobos; so, the government stepped in because 1 in 5 American consumers have AIG exposure, either through insurance or retirement planning, and it's an election year, and the issue has become a red ball that everyone wants to get a chance to kick, and blah, blah, blah.

Since I deal with investments and retirement planning daily, it is of interest to the 10 of you who will read this to know that when investment plans lose money, as nearly every investment/group retirement plan currently is, wages go down and taxes go up. Retirement plans cannot use its investment monies to pay out its members which means they take it either from wages or, as with IPERS, higher taxes. And with lower wages and higher taxes means less money is being spent on goods and services meaning companies will go out of business meaning jobs will be lost meaning loans will default meaning we are on the verge of a Mad Maxian type of world. Finally!

Point three in the next post.

3. As an abridged version of my last post I think the passage below sums up the current situation nicely. Yes, it is from the movie "Happy Gilmore," and yes, it can be applied to not only topsy-turvy economic times, but also in any time of uncertainty that life offers.

Gary Potter (played by Keavin Nealon) as said to Happy Gilmore: "Harness in the good energy, block out the bad. Harness. Energy. Block. Bad. It's like a carousel. You put the quarter in, you get on the horse, it goes up and down, and around. Circular, circle. Feel it. Go with the flow."

America put the quarter in with its hedge funds and mortgage pooling, and while they rode high for awhile, they are really f'd-in-the-a right now. Eventually, the economy will turn around and the horse will go back up, but not anytime soon. My investing tip: Bury your money in your yard. Just remember to mark it somehow when you need to dig it up.

Is it too late to invest in Enron?

...and thank you Cody. You can send me an invoice for your professional time.