Rah-Rah Sis-Boom BAH HUMBUG!!!

Are you like me and you've found yourself watching a LOT more financial television shows?

It's strange. I would watch CNBC only occasionally a few years ago when I was working in a wire service newsroom. Perhaps it was teaching me to read conditions better than Mad Money Man Jim Cramer, although I suppose I can give him a "props" moment for telling everyone that the gains on the stock market on Monday "could not be trusted". Now I will criticize Jim Cramer, because I've seen no sign that Cramer has given over to the dark side that is the BEAR...or maybe it should be the BARE market. He's still one of the cheerleaders who claims the downturn in the market: 1) was not going to happen; 2) is all but over. And what we observed - by not being Mr. Cramer - was as the market fell dramatically, Cramer had his head in his hands several times. He didn't understand why his predictions that the market would "adjust" and "not fall dramatically" were misleading.

Now, many of the talking heads on CNBC and other cable shows are arguing that the bailouts of companies and banks will right the financial crisis NOW.

Guess again.

Hasn't anyone at the financial news networks witnessed the real problems yet? Unemployment may be less than 6 and a half percent on paper, but that's not the REAL numbers of unemployment. Those real numbers would also take into account those people who have run out of unemployment benefits because they have been without a job in their field for much longer than the government entities would think/believe. Or would be allowed by law to report --- get that? They are NOT ALLOWED to report the ACTUAL FIGURES because lawmakers have figured out how to force the government agencies into flat out lying about things because at a given point they can no longer count certain individuals as unemployed. This does NOT take into account the even LARGER segment of the population --- the severely UNDEREMPLOYED.

You see, the Jim Cramer's of the world won't see the real numbers of unemployment and they still want to believe that there's not a recession, let alone that a DEPRESSION is tearing --- ripping --- through the United States in 2008 and will continue into 2009. Why would I pick on the financial gurus if I didn't see it first hand? I have said time and again that I could possibly be wrong, and that I have absolutely NO PROPER TRAINING IN FINANCIALS. But, thus far, my predictions based upon observations have been closer to 90 percent. Today, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened big following a more than 900 point upswing on Monday, the drop to 8000 has yet to occur. It will. So...why are these people trying to convince me that I'm wrong? Well, the answer is because they still have a lot of money to lose. And why am I not pulling punches? It is because I have no money to lose.

Until we're all on the same shaky ground, things won't be fairly equitable in the U. S. of A.

Here's the interesting thing: the beginning of the bailout is slow. The observations of those on the financial news shows have all said so.

But the financial heads, talking heads, and news anchors-reporters (loosely named) keep trying to do the cheerleading thing.

Rah-rah sis-boom BAH-HUMBUG!!!!!!!!

That's what it comes down to.

Mr. and Mz. Talking Head ---- here is the key to note: The depression is NOT "off the table" just because of a day of showing a positive on the Dow Industrials and the beginnings of a second "up" day. In fact, the longer I typed this, the lower the Dow Industrial Average --- it's well before the end of trading...I do not know today's outcome --- up or down at the end of today, there is much more bad news ahead.

And the president's plan to reward banks who buy out other banks is ludicrous. But it is his plan. And it feels like something "W" would come up with as a bridge to the market recovery that he wants to pipe-dream into reality. It's just the pipe-dream, not the reality for which he is hoping. We'll all see the analysts discuss this plan over the next few days --- and then the examination will lead to ---> the next downward trend.

Note to Jim Cramer and the talking money heads: 8000 hasn't yet been reached. The downward trend has been only temporarily on hold. 8000 is coming. Employment figures will be out later this week which will push things toward 8000.

That's my Rah-Rah Sis-Boom BAH HUMBUG to you cheerleaders.

Who DARED Tell The TRUTH About The Market???

So...did you all think I just up and quit thinking about this blog?

Naaahhh...I just had to wait to see my predictions start coming true. A full year ago I was telling people with whom I worked that we were in a recession and there was a full depression coming. Not one of them bit. NOT ONE OF THEM WOULD BELIEVE ME.

Now, I'm not a prophet. I'm not claiming to be some see-it-all. I just used what little knowledge I have about the markets and conditions in the business world to see the path that was laid out in front of all of us. The STOCK MARKET...the HOUSING MARKET...the LABOR MARKET: all were going to be hit HARD by the rapid decline in one or more of these areas of the economy. Let me share with you how many economics classes I took in college: ZERO. ZILCH. NADA.

No, it doesn't take a degree in economics to see where things can go. It takes some common sense and reporter's skills. And if you thought I was a raving lunatic in April or May when I was clearly outlining what was going to happen --- now you wonder "did I sell soon enough?"

Let me go back to my predictions -- and here's the thing, I'm not going to be able to give you exactly how I worded it in a conversation that I was having in March of 2008, but suffice it to say that --- when I was on the air at KZQZ in June this year (2008) and made the on-air announcement that we are in the GREAT DEPRESSION of 2008 --- I was NOT KIDDING that the depression in the economy was coming. And for those of you who thought I was, I am sorry to inform you that it is here, it will be here for the next several weeks, and the stock markets reflect that it is here.

As I type this, the Asian markets were in a free-fall. Quoting an AP story that was online via Yahoo! news a few minutes ago: "There's no bottom to the stock markets now," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. "There's no clue when it will stop."

Do you see what I mean?

Okay --- bottom line. My predictions off-air were that we'd see things on the DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVG in the 8000 range by the end of 2008...likely BEFORE Christmas. And if things continue in the way they have this week, that could be sooner rather than when I initially made my goofball prediction. At this point, I will finally give you the GOOD NEWS of what will be. At the conclusion of the holiday season, a few retailers who have been predicting less-than-wonderful sales will be pleasantly surprised to find that they met their expectations --- and in some cases surpassed the sales figures they were thinking were going to occur. Yeah, that's right. I'm predicting that at least one retailer will say they had better-than-expected results. And that's because whomever was still left in charge at the company will have had an idea what was to come and they predicted a large decline in spending due to the economic DEPRESSION. And, shortly after that ONE PIECE OF GOOD NEWS, things will start to improve SLOWLY.

Here's what I cannot see at this point in time: WHEN the economy will be on a definitive upswing. I don't have a prediction on that. And I TRULY wish I did, because I'd be finding money and borrowing money and investing it. But...I do not have a clue. Just knowledge that what we are experiencing is a sucky period called a DEPRESSION.

Good luck in figuring out how to weather this storm.