Tuesday.....International.....Stock Markets

Theoretically, the stock market is a vehicle for companies to raise money and for investors to join them and make profits. The origin of markets may go back 900 years and various investment trading companies played a big part in the settlement of this nation. The fact that shares in these companies can go up and down for various reasons gave rise to speculators playing the market as a roulette wheel, and the fact that these shares can rise and fall from nefarious and illegal maneuvers make it more like a poker game where one player can have an ace up the sleeve. Are the markets, just entities that models can be fashioned from to determine what they will do in certain situations or are they also organisms that control those who think they are in control?  The combined markets are worth hundreds of trillions of dollars for which the security of nations depend. Recently, financial experts have been making comments that the markets are out of control, which could be likened to a turbine that starts to show vibrations in which the operators are unsure if it will settle down or literally explode. One current scheme is where one entity sells securities to another entity when they do not own the securities to begin with. If the price drops they will purchase the securities and complete the original trade at the higher price. It is not surprising that we act this way and the German government is acting on it, not by controlling the seller, but by restricting the ability of the cost of securities to rise and fall as they normally would do. So ultimately, we may have an organism that is agitated to begin with and instead of going after those who are poking it, we poke it in our own way.  Greed is an awesome characteristic to behold. I'd like to have a log cabin on a hundred acres with a few horses to graze within the white fences, but if I had such then I might want an antebellum mansion with stables and a track...and oh...a nine hole golf course would be nice where I could play and not worry about beaning someone with my slice that is in my DNA. If there is an explosion adjacent to that turbine it may go offline from the percussion, and if war erupts around the world the markets will most likely collapse. This is a time for caution, something that you cannot regulate, and caution in the markets is contagious. We can desire to have a bull market but that bull may find itself in a China shop. In an editorial from the latest Forbes, Rich Karlgaard, writing on recovery, mentioned something that is not often brought up. He begins: the one-year old recovery is weak and uneven, it faces headwinds of fear, deficits, terror threats, entitlement bombs, higher taxes and moral hazards, as well as armies of hair-trigger traders with their eyes on a black swan. The purpose of his piece is in giving seven secrets for recovery. My purpose in mentioning this is his acknowledging that terror attacks are one of the outside influences, and that a booming recovery might result in the greatest bust of all. A strong recovery should not be our primary objective. If it is, we are in effect playing craps with even a basic standard of living. This is a time for restructuring, not through legislation but within our own lives. Redistribution of our wealth is not the answer, redistribution of our priorities is. As long as America is fascinated by offerings such as Dancing With The Stars and other various and sundry entertainments, we will fall prey to every predator whether on Wall Street or Madison Avenue. We are fixated on the belief that we need a magnificent, booming economy to lead the world but it is innovation and invention, freedom and liberty that placed us there to begin with and dependence on a benevolent Almighty God that bestowed us with those qualities.