March 8, 2009
Please help us before it's to late. Read this at a web site today..... Please help us!
Clueless in Washington
The level of skill in government is so low right now that it's beyond belief, but this economy is in
grave danger of completely disintegrating. We don't have a case of foxes guarding the
henhouse, we have a case of nobody guarding the henhouse. The Securities and Exchange
Commission refuses to recognize its grievous errors which caused the current depression and the
market continues to fall on the perception that they will continue in this vein. It's like watching a
football game where your team fumbles the ball on every play. You keep hoping that, just once,
they might hang on and score. But, the market recognizes that the politicians are clueless.
All it would take to turn this market around is a decision by the SEC which:
Eliminates the mark-to-market accounting rule. This rule makes no sense whatsoever and
anyone who has tried to defend it has shown themselves to be either ignorant of the facts or
devoid of common sense. There is no argument in favor of this abomination, but the defenders
seem to be part of a fanatic religious cult which insists on keeping it despite the fact that it has
proven to be an economic suicide pill.
Reinstates the short sale uptick rule. This cyclical bear market began simultaneously with the
elimination of this rule. Reinstatement would give stock buyers some confidence that they will
not be hit by a ton of bricks at any moment.
Without those two changes, the market could be heading to zero. With one or both of them, we could get a bounce that is historic. No one can predict when the politicians will wake up and undo the grievous damage they've done to the economy. We will continue to examine the technical picture of the stock market, but just realize that when a driverless car with its accelerator stuck open runs amok, no one can predict the future.