Tuesday.....International.....Olympics of Wall Street

Ancient Greece gave us the concept of the Olympics and held the first Olympics in modern times in 1896 while today Vancouver is holding the world's attention through the winter sports, but the real attention concerning Greece is in its sovereign debt. At least four countries (Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal) are in serious trouble. They borrowed money and are in jeopardy of defaulting on that debt. We are not learning from our mistakes. Bad decisions, lack of foresight and shady financial dealings brought about this crisis in Greece. Since they are a member of the European Union and the euro enters into he equation here, Europe is debating, even promising, to come to their aid. An article in Barrons from this past Monday titled There's Greece-and Also Some U.S. States by Jacqueline Doherty, applies the same problem to a few states here that are in danger of defaulting. For Europe or the U.S. to help out their various states jeopardizes their own bond rating. If this rating lowers, the value of their money decreases followed by the economy in general. It's a vicious cycle. Large investors watch this with intense interest but the small, everyday investor can be effected also, even those who rely primarily on the more conservative, and safe, 401k options that their investment portfolios offer. I'm not an investment counselor but common sense would seem to say that if one is bullish on the political stability of the world's nations then that stability would lead one to consider the advice given to us from economic theory alone. One could look at the trends of bond markets in various situations and the multitudes of indicators that point to recessions or bull markets to make their decisions. Conversely, if instability is the word of the day, and extreme instability is the phrase as it is today, then it might be wise to wait out the tremors that globalization is experiencing everywhere. Even these market and monetary concerns pale in comparison to the sharp external barbs out there that can bring down, all at once, the greater bubbles forming than even those of last years collapse.