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There certainly wasn’t much controversy over the answer to yesterday’s question …
How do you adjust to major fundamental events that are clearly carved in stone when you have no way to know WHEN they’ll impact the markets?
The vast majority of our readers agreed: Fundamental analysis can tell you WHAT’s likely to happen. But it can rarely pinpoint WHEN it’s likely to have an impact.
An even bigger problem: Wall Street experts — whether using fundamental or technical analysis — utterly FAILED to warn us of the most important turning points of the last decade:
They led investors headlong into the Tech Wreck of the early 2000s … and then they did it AGAIN in the Housing Bust of the late 2000s.
So here’s my big question for the day:
Can you EVER trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns? If so, when? Are they now leading investors into a brand NEW trap?
Just click this link to leave a comment and let me know what you think. I look forward to seeing you there!
Good luck and God bless!
Martin
{ 438 comments… read them below or add one }
Forget ( ever trusting Wall Street ) to lead anywhere except profits in their own pockets. Didn’t you just say they have put thousands into the bond market this past year ; anybody think they will warn out of that before the bubble bursts !
Mandeep Singh Rai Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Yes Patricia, the new agenda has been to direct folks into “high yield bonds” that are high risk and below investment grade. These types of debt instruments are also known as “junk bonds”.
By the way, who do you think is underwriting these bonds for corporations? – Wall Street.
I would not trust wall street for anything. they are a bunch of crooks. JPM and the other brokerage houses. I believe they are out for themselves and do not care what happens to us. If they are pushing buying I will not, because they follow the herd.
THe Wall Street experts I know personally tell me that they cannot be trusted. Can that be trusted?
Mandeep Singh Rai Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:48 AM
Interesting point Bob, this is my take: If the guys that want my money tell me not to trust them – I will gladly take my money elsewhere for advice. I’m not in the market to take additional, unnecessary risk by leaving my money with “untrustworthy” bankers.
I’m not sure who I’m not trusting, but it doesn’t feel right. I’m no longer part of the herd…pulled out 300K 2 weeks ago and I’m down to bonds, cash, 1/2 dozen long term stocks (I’ll probably hand to my kids like my at&t stock was handed to me), and real estate. My 300K is going into real estate…granted its gone down and may continue to go down but it provides a solid cash flow with limited taxable exposure. I also can touch it and know that wall street can’t. Although, I guess, that’s why the real estate market crashed isn’t it? Real Estate in my backyard still feels like a more predictable way to go.
NO!!!! You can’t trust wall street. When it comes to money, you can’t trust anyone. I was led to beleave that gold was going through the roof, looks to me like it’s going to do the same as the SP500, it sure has been tracting right along with it. There’s two people in your life you can trust. GOD and your Mother.
I think that the purpose of Wall St. is to separate the maximum number of people from the maximum amount of money. Therefore, the only thing the individual investor can do is to turn a deaf ear to what the Street is saying and do one or both of two things: Buy things that won’t go to zero (like commodities and sectors) in a pyramid downward, or do a great deal of due diligence with individual stocks in an area that one is knowledgeable about, making sure that you never pay too much.
I can”t figure out who”s killing my savings. I believe Wall street is where the massacre ends, but I also believe it starts in Washington with all the anti business politicians and their self serving policys of trying to spread the wealth in their quest for votes. Isn”t it amazing how so many of these anti-business politicians are millionaires many times over.
Dr. Weiss,
I am relying on the advice I receive from you and your team.
Mandeep Singh Rai Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 1:07 PM
Thank you Alan – we are always doing our due diligence to ensure you are not being misled and that the investments Wall Street doesn’t want you to see are uncovered. Stay tuned more to come…
What I think it’s crazy!!! For instant!!! How do you think!!! If GM gets all this money to keep GM in business!!! How does the government (President) expect GM to pay the money back!!! If people dosen’t have a job to go and buy GM cars, trucks, etc!!! So Gm can pay it back!!! Thank you
no way can they be trusted, and their credentials are a scam also. bet on what they say
and you lose big time!!
Trust Wall Street or Criminal Syndicate? No, No way! It’s not a matter of them being ignorant or incompetent in forcasting and predicting the turning points in the markets — they knew what they were doing was extremely risky, unethical, fraudulent, and illegal! But their greed trumped all that. It’s the Greedy and Materialistic mentality in the society in general, but very much More So on Wall Street. Money, thus Power, was their ultimate Objective; they could care less about the Means to grab and hoard it. It just like those Suprime Lenders, and their agents, peddling their fraudulent morgages. They knew these fraudulent morgages were up to no good, but Money(commissions) trumped their ethical practices and good conscience.
So, forget about trusting these criminals! What we need to do is to hold these people and other related people accountable — Investigation, Prosecution, Conviction, Punishment, and Restitution!
Any group which has such an extreme concentration of power can’t be trusted. As the saying goes, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” They’ve got the money to manipulate markets and buy politicians. When even the bond rating agencies are providing bogus ratings, no one on Wall Street is trust worthy.
I think the current situation in America is a reflection of what was missed when our Constitution was written. The Founding Fathers did an incredible job of putting checks and balances into the federal government. They rightly feared a concentration of power in a one or a few hands in the government. What they missed is the danger that comes with concentration of power in the private sector. The concentration of power in the private sector has created a defacto oligarchy. The average citizen can expect to be fleeced on a regular basis by the oligarchy aided and abetted by the politicians.
Here in the UK there are serious trust issues which go all the way up to Downing Street.
I have to trust my gut, I think I know when I am being snowed on an issue.
I do know that if your expenditure exceeds your income, long term, grief will be the result.
I have commercial dealngs in China, Europe and the USA, the fundamantals always apply.
I keep cash, gold and energy which I see as basics for life, they never go out of fashion.
I do not trust stock brokers, never will.
Regards,
Many years ago, I was told at OSU that 300 of the best economists in the world were asked, “If you were trying to pick a stock that would go up, what would be a good percentage of success?” The answer was 50 per cent or in other words, a flip of the coin. That has stuck with me ever since. Wall street is incapable of proper timing and that is why most investment systems involve some method of maximizing profit, while cutting losses.
Having read the several comments already made, I can only agree…whoever ‘wall street’ is, it would be most foolish to trust them. Brokers hardly know more that investors, investment banks are only concerned with profits, outrageous compensations and bonuses (and make no contribution whatsoever to the economy). And who are the ‘we’ who might or might not trust ‘wall street’? As an ordinary citizen who chose to save and invest via the stockmarket, I can only look to government to protect my interest; and look who own the politicians, if not ‘wall street’ and the large corporations? Looks like I cannot trust anyone.
No NEVER NEVER NEVER,but that does not mean we can’t make money with them.Kind of like the saying don’t listen to what they say but rather watch what they do!
It is important not to suggest there can ever be a consensus. If everyone thinks the US$ over-valued it cannot be – or its value would already be at a level which balanced buyers and sellers. Prices move to find common ground between the two – stocks, bonds, commodities, whatever. So it is silly to bemoan the lack of “Wall Street” – whatever is meant by that -”predicting” the 2008 crash, or it would already have happened. Traders seek to encourage trade. Trades are made up of 000s of buyers and sellers – and opinions. As many gain from falling prices and from rising ones.
Honestly, I don’t trust Wall Street anymore than I trust politicians. Cash and hard currency are good positions.
From my perspective Wall Street shows that it cannot learn from its own mistakes, doesn’t understand that perception is in this market critical; pays itself again with outlandish increases in salary, etc. after taking money form the government. The government has no Constitutional resource for money except the tax payer.
Of course Wall Street brokers only push the stocks, bonds and investment vehicles that make them money, on both ends. How do you trust someone like that?
Because of mathematical predictability you have a better chance at the gambling casinos to win a pot than you have with additional unknown human variables including fear factors that trigger the volatility of the marketplace…Personally, I have no confidence in the near term. I’ll leave the addiction up to you young guys.
After the ‘29 debacle, a guy wrote a book called, “Where Are The Customers’ yachts.” The title explains the Wall Street culture with pristine clarity. While the world works, Wall Street skims the cream.
I don’t trust anyone on Wall Street. Crooks for sure.
But in this market, I trust what I see on the charts. I trade QID & QLD and currently partially Short with QID. I trade the longer weekly trends both up and down.
Sir,
A stockmarket once-upon-a-time was there so that companies could issue shares to expand their business and flourish. Now Wall St. & the PPT manipulates the market for their own gain so much that it is no more than a casino for the big boys – the fundamentals of the individual companies within the market are irrelevant. I’m sticking to short-term currency trading which is so big that even the wide-boys on the Street can’t screw it up. What a boon TV business channels are for these guys as they are able to lure unsuspecting investors into positions while they are setting-up a move in the opposite direction. Trust and Wall Street? Would make a great sitcom.
Who said you have to be a Indian or be in Vegas, Wall Sreet is one big Casino. There in the business to take your money! If there was a name to give Wall Street & our Gov’t, it would be “Organize Crime”, and the American people need to wake up or loose everything!!!!!!!!!! Do I trust them? You got to be Kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The answer is NO, not in it’s present form. As a country of Laws, rules, quidelines, and regulations we do well. When we drop some of our rules, regulations, and quidelines, we do not do so well. When our guard is down, we give opportunity to the ill’s of our society and we loose.
I don’t see a mystery or a question of trust. When everybody had bought, shown by volume, then there’s nobody left to buy. Then the sales people get busy telling you to buy, hoping stock they now own will continue to go up. Since nobody’s in the market to buy, the people who own the stock begin to sell – perhaps they need the money. So the bubble bursts. It has nothing to do with dishonesty, just supply and demand. I look at the volume to spot tops and bottoms. I must confess that I am human and don’t always accept what the volume tells me.
Fundamental Analysis tells be what to invest in and Technical Analysis tells me when to invest. Wall Street experts never enter into my decisions.
They are really trying to sell, sell, sell whatever they can.
When did a broker ever advise selling unless he had something else to sell?
Wall Street has proven that it is more of a “casino” than people investing based on fundamentals. I would not trust them to know when a market turn is going to happen. Look how “well” they performed with the real estate bubble. Without government assistance, most of the big firms would be out of business!
I will never invest in any US company. The Government does want it wants! Now there is talk of bombing Iran. The idiots now have deployed ships off the Arabian coast.The public is only a great source of taxes. But the unemployment keeps growing. How can Obama want more money for his favorite programs. They can’t balance there own budget.
If I don’t balance my job I get in serious problems.
The White house is just a white house void of intelligent people. They are Pendejos./
I had a broker call me yesterday and i told him i have trust issues and that i will not trust him either,He seemed to get really mad over this comment,and then i kindly mentioned Bernie Maddoff and he then hung up,bet I won’t here from him again.
Wall Street could never be trusted since it`s inception. It`s main purposes are to sell new issues to the “public” to finance their wonderful business plans and then their stock becomes a football in the general market to be gambled upon and used to fleece the public. Wall street exists for the purpose to generate COMMISSIONS first last and always. The “EXPERTS” cannot predict the future any better than an infant and “our ears” are our worst enemies if we listen to the comments coming out of Wall Street. It`s just one big casino peddeling it`s wares as one group goes out of fashion while another comes in. It sure generates lots of money for magazines, television networks and the printing trade. That`s the truth of it as I see it. A pure game of psychology. Wall Street was very smart calling these lottery tickets (shares) the word SECURITIES. They`re anything but secure. The public is really conned and brainwashed. By the way I am ahead in this money game and have no “axes” to grind.
NO TRUST…THEY HAVE THERE OWN PLAYGROUND…PROTECTED BY THE FED AND TREASURY…BERNIE MADOFF SMALL FISH COMPARED TO AIG,B OF A,CITI BANK,AND PARADE GOES ON…DIVIDENDS SO SMALL BUT BIG BONUSES TO THEMSELVES…THE STOCK HOLDERS SHOULD PULL THERE FUNDS AND LET THESE FIRMS CRASH…RIGGED MARKET WHEN GENERAL MOTORS AND CHRYSLER SCREW THE BOND HOLDERS AND HAND THE COMPANIES TO THE UNIONS…THE TAXPAYER IS GIVEN THE TOXIC ASSETS TO FANNIE AND FREDDIE MAC AND THE 5 TO 6 TRILLION IS HANDED OFF FROM THE BANKS…THANK YOU …WHAT A CRIME….CONGRESS AND SENATE ARE TO BLAME…NO DRILLING FOR OIL,NO NUCLEAR POWER,NO NATURAL GAS..NO REFINERIES…EASY FIX AND THE US DOLLARS WOULD THEN BECOME VERY STRONG…OUR BUDGET PROBLEMS WOULD BE OVER… GOOD BUY TO FOREIGN OIL …
Wall Street is full of sales people. They make money by getting the public to trade. Some of Wal Street is controlled by the government. Need I say anymore? We need to make our own decisions and not depend on a salesman to determine our financial outcome.
I think we must watch the same indicators with the awareness that they can now be manipulated as never before. We must not l sheepeople and find 4 or 5 investment types- Real estate- Gold- oil- silver- and a few stocks and be ready to bail on all but the core hard asset groups. I know that many will not like the real estate but like gold the $ value may change but it will always be there and if it is paid for you can usually rent it at some price.
Hold small % in cash- this is the most vulnerable but necessary to have ON HAND not in banks.
Owe all the money you can (on assets that will appreciate in the coming inflation.)debet service and or pay off with other liquid assets. Guns & ammo are good investments too. they appreciate and add saftey to your home.
Last but most important is to trust God for all outcomes. Darrell Smith
I do not trust them to warn us but if they did the catastrophe might be averted.
No. They often cannot call market turns so how can they lead investors the wrong way. Please note that I believe they are no more brilliant or prescient than most average investors.
you cant trust any of them (kudlow last year predicted a mini boom right after the first of this year, that speaks for itself) but i still believe in trends. which means buying opportunities are there. my best advice is “do your own research” it is a laborious task but if you’re not able to do it you should probably stay in cash and hard currencies. most stock tips are pump and dumpers.
I especially don’t trust the constant reference to “free markets.” When were markets free? Markets are always manipulated by some power group, if not Goldman Sachs, then its the government.
Yet, watch CNBC and they are still talking about the need for “free markets.” I guess what they mean is they would rather see Goldman Sachs in control than the government.
The financial community consider themselves the best and the brightest. In reality, it’s group think writ large and it impacts all of us.
I am 72 pushing towards 73.
A long time ago when I lived in New Jersey, I had just one contact with a Wall Street Broker who was, as I found out later, only looking for a commission and would say anything to make the sale. The deal didn’t tank. I made enough extra change from the sale later to pay for a dinner for two.
That was the last time I ever had anything to do with Wall Street.
No one can get me to go back there today. I would much rather “go offshore” with a proper trust and Ltd to hold assets free and clear of US taxes. The trust has to be my privacy/security shield and the Ltd has to be run by the trust without my name anywhere in sight. Snoops be damned.
I believe that “Wall Street ” can never before, now or in the future be trusted.
The goal of the illuminati or globilasts or the richest predators on the planet is to take down the non rich and capture and inslave the majority on this planet once and for all.
They have shown utter contempt for virtue and a bloodthirsty predqatory nature of an extremely cowardly nature with all therre profiteering wars, plagues, market manipulations and they think they are hiding behind a viel of secrecy and actually think we are not aware of there medling. There goal is to break down our nation staes and our national borders so they can have a borderless world market and one collective dictatorship/corporatocracy to govern or enslave it. Freedom and privacy are not in this equation and love and compassion are not part of there agenda unless the image of shooting a horse gone lame is your idea of compassion. The majority of us on this planet need to live in privacy, in a loving and greedless world that extends love and compassion and education to all. We need to solve our problems and live our lives as
human beings in a state that is non predatory and has a fairness and goodness that our selfish, would be overlords won’t tolerate. The market is not an even playing field
like Las Vegas Casinos and gambling houses everywhere. When you walk in the odds are stacked and the trappings and past performance of the gambling establishments precede them. We can only lose if we invest with only the intent of trying to beat the odds for they are stacked by insider trading, a game board mentality of the super rich and thier Wall Street, and hidden agendas and hidden power centers and control that make true fairness a joke. They obviously subscribe to the concept that in this life the only rules are that there are no rules. Scciopathic/murdering psychopathic behavior is the best we can expect from these tru villains. Oh and last but not least the fiat funny money they have foisted off on us so they can further manipulate us and give us the illusion of riches when in fact they have created a house of cards out of smoke and mirrors and all resemblence to real value and real substance was removed by the central banking cartel many decades ago. I fear for our children and our very lives with this bunch leading the way. Is the only way to survive left joining them. I truly hope therre is an alternative and would enjoy working to find solutions to return us to real value, real wealth and a species and a planet that welcomes our inteeligence demonstrated in positive and long term good for all.
For those of us who have no assets except a company retirement, I don’t see how to leave the herd. The only investments we can direct with our company retirement account are through the fund management company (Fidelity) and the investments that they offer. Not much of an independent choice! I think this situation mirrors Wall Street as well.
It is not possible for the majority of large money managers to anticipate a major market turn. Let us suppose that “they” expect a turn in April. Would they all wait till April to start moving out of their large positions? Of course not, they would start selling today to gradually change their stance. This of course would start the major turn now, not April.
The large majority can never be right at major turns because they are “the market”. Smaller investors always have the advantage because they can move quickly and go against the crowd. This is why I use sentiment indicators as part of my study to determine major trend reversals. Not every extreme in sentiment indicates a major turn. However, almost every major turn is accompanied by an extreme.
As a former investment advisor, I did my own research and rarely listened to research analysts. Large investment houses have their own agendas , and generally use the investing public as “dupes” or “cannon fodder” .
Good luck listening to them. !!
John Wilson.
Can you EVER trust Wall Street …NO
Can you EVER trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns? If so, when? Are they now leading investors into a brand NEW trap?
My answer is, for the most part, no. There were a few who did get their clients out or put them in short positions in June or July of 2008. Our own Martin Weiss was one, although I do not consider him a part of the Wall Street establishment.
At times this market feels like shooting craps in a blind alley with a bunch of thugs carrying sharp knives. At other times what occurs seems very logical. But you have to be fast on the uptake. If you can’t hit the pitch, do yourself a favor and sit on the bench. If you have an advisor who can’t hit the pitch, but wants you to play in the fast lane, you are in trouble. With that said, even the best of the best can be fooled.
I would be looking for a sharp drop in all markets sometime after the middle of this year. I say this because there are a lot of okay numbers comming in regarding fundamentals and that will cause brokers to push equities. But we’re going to get another debt default related shock before the year is out, and that will pull everything down. What happens after that is anyone’s guess.
I do not get anything from the wall street other than guessing. I can do that! maybe better or luckier. I am getting frustrated with not feeling like I am making any ground. I am a long term guy and believe we should be long in some things but, with all my readings I would be better off digging a hole in the ground and depositing it in a mason jar. Just seeing my gold and silver go down so fast is very discouaraging. My hope and expectation is this sector will rebound shortly and do what we think it should with all the problems we have before us. Fingers crossed!
The only thing we know for sure is that everything goes up and down in value! I believe Hamilton wanted the US to borrow from foreign countries in an effort to start our beloved country. But I wonder what he would say if he saw the results 200+ years later.
Now the question becomes, if you have the parent country mired in debt can the investment community based in that country ever be free from the effects of that debt? I think not!
Wall street, money managera included will take your money and fully invest because that is where they earn a fee. They would like to be right, but that’s secondary so we have to be our own guides. Real Estate makes up more than half of my wealth and even some good commercial properties are not showing returns at this time with vacancies and tenants negotiating for lower rents. Inflation favors real estate because replacement costs rise. So if you can hold on to your properties, eventually they will be home runs. As for cash… you tell me where to put it.
Individual investors cannot trust Wall Street, they will protect the big banks at our expense. I do believe they are leading us into a trap, things on main street are not as rosey as the media presents them. This is a risky game, always set and follow predetermined loss points. Small loses keep us in the game.
Wall Street is generally bullish, which serves their interest. Trading slows down in a bear market as do the commissions. When a vast majority of traders and analysts ar ebieased towards bullishness, then it leads to bubbles which sooner or later tend to burst. Now the Feds are in the game to prop up the bubbles. Since they have the capacity to print money, they devalue the savings of those who saved to prop up the spendthrifts and speculators. Since 2009, the agenda appears to be to have amajority of voters on some kind of federal subsidy to keep the spenders in power. I don’t know where it will end.
Frankly, Wall Street can always be trusted…to make money, BUT, no soup for you! “Wall Street” is a bunch of banking businesses that are there to make money for themselves and their investors, not the little people like you or I, unless we invest directly into the banks…but that has also proven to be a fools errand too…although Uncle Sam has made sure that the banks don’t lose too badly, so maybe investing in the banks directly isn’t such a loser’s game after all… but it’s still no way to invest for the common man investor with any degree of confidence and safety and security.
So, that begs the question: Where does the common man invest his pennies to secure his future in a reasonably safe, secure way? I wish I knew! I don’t want or need 10% a year returns (although it would be nice)…but a steady 4-6% a year isn’t too much to ask, is it, with little to no risk? These days you can’t even get 1% on your money.
This country is screwed up..we all want high returns, low (no) risk for investments, cheap goods and services, high paying jobs for little to no hard work, all problems taken care and paid for by someone else, etc, etc…but this is exactly the way the government has been brainwashing us to be for years. Until that cycle is broken (and another great depression may be necessary to finally wake us up again) we are on a treadmill to nowhere but down, down, down (our standard of expected living, that is).
Sorry, didn’t mean to be so glum, but jeeesh, we are a pathethic lot and getting more pathethic by the day and we truly have no one to blame but ourselves for getting into this situation to begin with. WE have abandoned all the founding principles of how this country was started…blood, sweat and tears and been replaced with “take care of me, feed me, clothe me, wipe my behind for me.
I feel that timing is my greatest problem. I make the right investments for the right reasons at the wrong time and get creamed! I am beginning to think that I need to cut myself as far away as possible from anything potentially impacted by any decisions made by anyone in government. The DIVIDEND SUPERSTARS are looking more and more like what I need to do. Make choices that maximize dividends and let the long term flow of the market do what ever it’s gonna do but just hang in there and HOPE the dividend superstars continue to pay up and grow. I am somewhat suspicious of long term cycles because they do not take into account time-localized events that have more to do with political vagaries than other factors. Investor psychology drives long term cycles but can still get jerked around unpredictably by sudden decisions made from Washington DC by people who don’t “get it”!
Martin:
They are constitutionally incapable of doing so because they have been so co-opted by the Wall Street System and their current paychecks. They also have no accountability to us for being accurate,even in a general sense, as in the general direction of the market. They seem to always be hawking (or hocking) a current position or hoping to make as much as they can, as quickly as they can.
The crowd is always right during a trend, but always wrong at turning points.
For years, I’ve used an online broker like E*trade to make trades and haven’t trusted any stockbrokers for advice. They tend to advise whatever they are selling at the time, whether it makes financial sense or not. I have to have my own reasons to buy and own stock, such as buying a consumer-driven cyclical stock like P&G or perhaps TJMaxx in the belief that retailers may be making a comeback or consumer staples are the most stable industry out there. Now, many brokers are recommending gov’t bonds, even long-term ones. That recommendation makes me nervous, it’s not as safe as it used to be before we racked up all that additional debt! The idea is: buy our gov’t bonds, it’s safe! Really??
It’s like playing tennis in a hurricane!
Wall Street, Main Street, Government Street are all streets. Therefore, they all possess the same characteristics: greedy, corrupt, untrustworthy and don’t care. They are all in bed together. Your portfolio will not increase unless you have what all these street have: insider information. This is legal in congress. I want what they want!
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Can you EVER trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns? If so, when? Are they now leading investors into a brand NEW trap?
I think it is pretty apparent to most that you can trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns but they will keep it a secret from most of the American public and use the information to the advantage of, “the powers that be”. I also think that Wall Street is leading investors into a brand NEW trap to line their pockets AGAIN. Remember that only the few AND priveleged win big in their world. First they hyped up the TECH sector, then they pumped up the mortgage market… we all know what happened in these circumstances. It is pathetic that they now also own Congress and our elected officials do nothing to help the millions affected by their investment games. Now with the Supreme Court in their pockets as well, I really pray for our country. No one should let it go that they have released restrictions on corporate giving in elections.
I don’t think we can ever trust Wall Street to be on top of any busts in the market. If you look to history, they were not aware in 1929, and certainly in the past 10 years, they were caught red handed (along with most of the rest of us). So I think it is foolish to think that this is going to change in the future.
No. I don’t trust WallStreet, nor the President for that matter.
The situation is going to get worse and we are the ones who will
pay dearly in the end.
Wall Street trust? An oxymoron. I’m amazed financial anaylists still talk about Wall St ‘trust’ and further amazed investors consider, weigh, contemplate the concept of ‘trust’ in their relationship, or potential relationship with Wall St. Wall St. and other brokerages around the world are shark tanks. All of them. Very necessary shark tanks, but shark tanks nevertheless. That’s why we need the Martin D Weiss’s of the world.
Bill Stewart
NO.
Let face it the time is coming when we can’t’ buy or sell at any price. You can get ready or stick your head in the sand. The lion is still coming and your rear is exposed. It’s better to face the lion head on you might live through it
I’m a Canadian.
Does anyone know what is happening with Canadian banks?
I strongly feel that both the tech wreck and the mortgage wreck were intentionally conspired by the powers that be to wipe out the wealth of the baby boomers literally forcing them to stay in the job market as the powers that be know very well that there is zero way that the generations behind us can provide enough workers to fill the gaping holes left nor could the country survive the massive loss of tax revenues, especially in lieu of our country’s current MEGA deficit. So, in conclusion, NO, I DO NOT TRUST WALL STREET!
As Benjamin Graham observed: “Mr. Market” is manic-dpressive, sometimes he is ovecome by greed in his manic phase, sometimes he is overcome by fear in his depressive phase, and in between he may be rationally coming up with the consensus estimate for the next 6-9 months. You need to know which phase he is in to answer the question and the answer changes over time.
First of all, I don’t think Wall Street should exist, it needs to be broken up into pieces just like our Corporate Monopolies!! We need to decentralize and localize the economy! Create local ownership of businesses and MOST IMPORTANT of all, we need to bring back MANUFACTURING to America. It’s just common sense man, history shows that in the 40s, 50s and 60s we had the best and healthiest economy in the world!! If you read Dr. Ravi Batra or Dean Baker of the Center for Economic Policy Research and follow their arguments then this is all very plain to see. We have been systematically destroying the American Economy for the last 30 years with incredibly bad policies!! It’s time to end the Corporate Brainwashing through the Corporate Media like CNN, Fox News. MSNBC, CNBC etc, the American people are being lied to and manipulated not only by false economic arguments but by this “manufactured bickering” between the so-called Republicans and Democrats, the Corporate Liberals and the Corporate Conservatives!!! I urge you also to check out David C. Korten’s really stimulating new book, “Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth(Why Wall Street Can’t Be Fixed and How to Replace It)” Nothing will change until we get off our economic ideological High Horse and start looking at COMMON SENSE, and that is history shows us how we can have a vibrant economy for ALL, if not we are doomed to fail in this FEUDALISTIC ECONOMIC MESS we are in!!! Most economists employed by the Federal Reserve, the Government and Wall Street tow the party line, the Plutocracy Line, the Corporatocracy Line, is that any different than the Communist Party in China??? I think not!!!
If I don’t hear from you then it is also clear that you folks also tow the party line!!! I don’t expect to hear from you, the American People eventually will win if we are to have a vibrant democracy in this country!! We are a nation of ill-informed idiots as Gore Vidal once said, America should be called, “The United States of Amnesia” We don’t read, think, converse, we live on junk food, we are an extremely hypocritical and contradictory society!! Those at the top believe America functions best in this Feudalistic Arrangement, well history proves otherwise!!! And eventually we will all fall together if not from this mess, then from climate change and our massive petro-chemical pollution epidemic!!! Stay informed, the Natural World will deal us many heavy blows in the future for our arrogance and conceited behavior, our greed and self-centerdness, our callous disregard for life on earth, including the many poor who are intentionally left out of this massive game of economic self-deception, greed, plundering of the earth’s resources and total disregard for the sacredness of this wonderful planet. As Chief Seattle once said, “The Earth does NOT belong to US, we belong to the earth~” Thank you for taking the time to read this.(if you read this??) Let me hear from you!!! Thank you, Eric.
If
I don’t trust Wall street anymore. They have their heads in the sand like an ostrich and how anyone could applaud on the closing bell with the market down 200 points just bears this out.
I spend a lot of time evaluating the information from Wall street experts, the news in general and investors themselves and form an opinion based on my due diligence. There seems to be no alternative. Its not like I can just hold cash and feel financially safe. I don’t have enough money to see it heavily devalued, am 63 and living on a low income. Leaving the country isn’t a course for me either. To me it appears that the dollar will eventually be more devalued to address our debt problem. Or we can default. I imagine we’ll have to default on some things even if we devalue the currency. A lot of expert info is heavily slanted to trick me into a position that would only benefit the originator of the info but some of it can be trusted. The search for the truth is interesting. I even like to look at the truth on a metaphysical level, as to why we might be in this position in the first place. Being more self-sustaining is the lesson I keep coming back to. There are many greedy people who can’t be trusted. I think that the money power game will run its course and many will suffer the consequences of such a materialistic view of life, including the people who are duped by the greedy. Hopefully something better will be born out of this craziness, more people of moral character will come forward and we’ll take more responsibility for ourselves as individuals. Families, neighborhoods and localities will become more important. Right now I think we’re a plutocracy. And there seems to be no check on the monied interests that run the global economy. Where to get informed and trustworthy news is a good question.
I think after what has happened in the past year and a half it’s really hard to believe what investment choices to make and who to trust with the investment companies.Social security looks like on it’s way out the window right now.@ the rate things are going now the honest are going to lie,cheat and steal to to keep their mouths fed because the upper level is doing that now and leaving the retired,the working men,women and there children and there children’s children to sink and dround.Sure the upper level is not starting a war with another country right now but creating a war against all of us who want to work,succeed,live out our dreams and prosper.I think in the next 2 years to come we will be lucky to just live.
It all depends on what you mean by “trust.”
I trust that:
1) the best on the street will continue to make money;
2) the houses will manipulate the markets;
3) the prices will swing in cycles.
To profit, we must recognize the need to understand the psychology trading or investing. This requires adjustments of one’s viewpoint based on feedback from the market and to react appropriately according to your basic approach to the markets.
That it’s not easy for human beings to make rapid adjustments is the principal factor contributing to losses, but it’s possible.
For day traders, adjusting means “Don’t hold preconceptions, but react to what is happening every moment.” For investors, it means following major trends without concern about day-to-day fluctuations.
No matter what, just observe the markets; and, whatever your time frame may be, trust that they will move over time.
As far as I am concerned WS has done nothing good for me beginning 11/07. I have lost all profits and seriously damaged my combined principal. I blame myself for this mostly. But to answer your question about trust and WS, I would like to point you to a quote from far far away:
“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany.”
— Obi Wan
I feel like the one lemming in the crowd who has an aversion to heights associated with a long drop. I’m new to the stock market. A year ago I found your website and signed up for the informative emails I get every day and I am grateful for the education you’ve given me. I am now feeling confident to get involved even with financial turmoil out there. I don’t feel confident in Wall Street’s or Washington’s experts ability to forecast or solve the the problems facing us, but I feel confident I can take control of my family’s financial future. Thank You Dr. Weiss I am spreading the good word you have shared with me to my friends and so on and so on.
the big five banks (casinos) virtually control markets and you can be certain they will encourage the suckers to go long when they are short. they know whats going to happen (billions in cds and trillions in dirivitives) because they are the cause!
I’m surprised at the assertion, and I challenge it. I don’t believe Wall Street, all on its own, led us into the mortgage debacle. It is the politicians, of any liberal bent, that create the great unknowns that impact our investments. Politicians are just able to make the blame stick to Wall Street and whomever they choose and the liberal media carry the torch. The politicians grease the skids, others do the dirty deed, and the politicians put the blame on them. Simple. It is sad and it is very difficult to know how to invest in such a climate. Look at you, where is all the money coming from that is sinking this country? Who are you pointing at? Now, perhaps I do not understand what is ‘Wall st’ and what is main st and what is the rest. Perhaps an explanation of that will be useful.
Oh, they can be trusted. They can be trusted to manuipulate the market to their liking. For the past many weeks all I’ve heard on TV is the market is over bought and over priced and it’s due a major correction. They want this correction so they can buy in. They’re creating fear. “I’m afraid of this market,” they say. What they mean is, “I want the market to correct, because that’s where I make my money!” Then when the market drops two or three percent because of the financial woes of minimaly influential countrys (even with all the good financial news about the economy and companies beating the estimates), TV commentators say they don’t understand how this is happening. It’s simple: it’s panic selling. Why are people panicing? Because all the wall street “experts” are prediciting a “major” correction. I guarantee that if you put two or three “wall street experts (brokers)” on TV and they predict the market will drop tomorrow and it will be a blood bath, the market will suffer a drastic drop in the next 24 hours. Why else would companies that beat their estimates and are predicting better times fall 5% when the debt of Spain is mentioned. The experts have created the fear by predicting (wanting) a correction.
I’m getting more and more convinced that “Wall Street” is this big “Marketing Machine” that implements campaigns in favor of specific assets or asset classes, which are designed to lure in as much of the masses as possible. I believe, their game only gets going into full gear once they have already gone into those assets or asset classes themselves, and are starting to plan their exit. If they can lure in enough of the masses, the targeted assets may stay afloat for a while, but from that point on price action in those assets is irrelevant to them (these “big guys” have long left the building and have gone on to some other undisclosed location, from where they will resurface again later).
Wall Street does not care about market turns. They are only concerned with making their goals: a large bonus ! Brokers push with the momentum of the times and do not worry about turns as they will load up on sales when disgruntled investors dump.
As a 75 year old I’ve watched markets and participated in them as an investor for many a year. I clearly remember Carter’s policies which did not move business at all in fact when Reagan got in the market was hovering around 750 to 800 range. When Reagan and Volker started choking off inflation with higher interested rates and reducing taxes on businesses, things exploded on the stock market.
Today’s culture has changed, Wall street is manufacturing clever financial vehicles so they can make more profits, therefore their Rep’s can make more bonuses selling anything and everything.
99.9% are not illegal but it is sure a gray area. Buyers beware do your own due diligence and today there is the means to do so. You can get anything you want on a company on the internet and companies like Weiss research make it even easier. ‘
You have feet on the ground in various countries and the reporting is very good. americans have become the culture of I want it now, there just not hurting enough yet!
I’ve been self employed in my own businesses all my life and successful, and since retiring making a living working for home networking. but as with anything else do your due diligence learn your new endeavor and go for it. You will never get there unless you set sail and look over the horizon.
Thanks Martin for your daily input, i give myself 12 months and I’m back into the market using your company and travelling to China, India, and So. America. that’s were the action is going to be for a long time.
But there will be emerging gems in America. We are still the country the world turns to and we will get out of this. Ed Hebert
Yes Wall St is leading us into a new trap the same way they did it in the 30’s….
Enough buying power or shorting power is a SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY ……
You don’t think that the the big trading firms that have all the FED MONEY SOURCE would use that BORROWING POWER and COLLUDE WITH THEIR FRATERNITY BRETHREN to MOVE THE MARKETS in order to make their own PROFITS DO YOU …….WHO GETS FLEECED……….those that let others do their due diligence for them or just let their broker’s manage their accounts……
it’s their m.o. : FAST PROFITS = BIG BONUSES year end…………all driven by unsatiable greed………….
You and I could never imagine what it is like …..because we are not made this way….
THE LUST FOR POWER drives these people and it is that driving force that helps them to think they are ascending out of their own works …..until they are surrounded by a huge group ………that has also sold out to ” THE LOVE OF MONEY ” …..
THE INVISIBLE HAND of YOU KNOW WHO ………
This becomes very interesting when you look at these forces on a macro level in the case of TAKING BRIBES ……..also called LOBBYING……….SAMUEL’s sons took BRIBES recorded in I Sam 8:3 and PERVERTED JUDGEMENT……..
if what we have in WASHINGTON DC is not the MANIFESTATION OF PERVERTED JUDGMENT …………….then we can act and behave like and PRETEND that there is not a CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIP HERE and LET THIS NONSENSE GO ON FOR EVER…
but by the end of this process , if we fail to act and with DETERMINED COMMITMENT AND EFFORT TO SEE TO IT THAT THE CAUSE IS REMOVED……..we will all become slaves. Watch as big government , which has already given an I O U in lieu of social security (courtesy of George III) reaches further to steal your pensions and retirement fund in your 401ks’
Every one , it seems , in search of the american dream(s) , has lost their identity somewhere …..unaware of all the STANDARDS that are being washed away because they had no ownership in those standards ……….or have never had to sacrifice for anything ………..or is it because we are too busy ….. with those things we pursue of the sensual entitlement category ………
Liberty has come along way on the backs of men and women of THE CENTURIES …..who never knew what a BANK ACCOUNT was …….who helped to bring MOSAIC LAW into codification into our legal systems of today …….Very interesting the sacrifices of men and women 250 years ago …….coming to this land …..and trading GOOD WILL and PROMISES to build a foundation ……
GOVERNMENT didn’t have the capacity to be a parasite ………..to and INDEPENDENT and HARDWORKING …and SELF SUFFICIENT PEOPLE THEN ………FREEDOM CAME to THEM WITH RESPONSIBILITY ………
WE GOT TRIMMED ; IT”S TIME for the BANKERS to get trimmed and the POLITICIANS; Big GOVERNMENT …….
THEIR ARE TWO EVILS lurking here that we were early on WARNED ABOUT by TWO PRESIDENTS.
IKE warned us to SHUN …..the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX ………which is out of control because of lobbying……
JFK warned in the birth of the PEACE CORPS………
“ASK NOT what your country can do for you , ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY.”
GOVERNMENT was never intended to be a place of to get STUFF, answers to your PROBLEMS …………..but a SERVANT TO A FREE PEOPLE WHO WERE INDEPENDENT who were enterprising enough and BELIEVING to make things happen and GROW and PROSPER…….
IT SEEMS THE PEOPLE have taken on the traits that have been marketed to them BY THE FRAMERS OF THE NANNY STATE………
WE MUST AGAIN BECOME MOLDED to the IMAGE that OUR FOUNDING FATHERS HAD when they became the FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA…
or we have become their bastard children …./ descendants
sorry for the rant ……THERE IS A POSSOM LOOSE IN THE WOODPILE : IT IS THE LOVE OF MONEY .
THE OBJECT OF FREEDOM IS LIBERTY ………the end of : MONEY …….prosperity is not the OBJECTIVE OF LIBERTY ;;;;;it is a byproduct…..
THIS ALL HAS TO END………..if LIBERTY IS TO SURVIVE.
I do not trust Wall St. — everything they do is for their own benefit, not for the benefit of investors. Those with advance knowledge are the ones who make huge gains; they exit after the public begins to invest in their recommendations, thus ithey are nsured of reaping huge profits at the investor’s expense.
Long ago at age 16 working at night on Wall Street, Heinz Biel taught me many things of which the 1st is that those on Wall Street earn their living taking money from others. The 2nd thing is that “the majority must be screwed …. and, Joe, unfortunately, you will be within the majority”.
——————-
I finshed reading your book, “The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide”, yesterday … and distilling it from my yellow, green, orange, and pink high-lighted lines this morning. After that, I did the same for the book that I read on Wednesday, Jim Cramer’s “Getting Back to Even”. Both of you have written much in common when one looks at the key extracts. You do, however, have some major differences of opinion such as on leveraged inverse ETFs.
One key issue is trust in what one is being told through the various media by the various players (to include those writing books). I have found both of you to be trustworthy from all your books, e-advertisements, and even Jim’s TV show, Mad Money.
You both identify the issue of trust in what is being “pitched” at investors. However, it goes far beyond that. In 1993, a not-new arena received a new “hot” name —> “Information Warfare”. It could be called propaganda, mis-information, dis-information, and many other names. The issue then, for the “future”, and now was how it was going to be used during the “Internet Age” against the American people by its own government, its own industry, its own unions, its own political parties, its own “interest groups”, as well as foreign sources including governments, terrorists, industrial organizations, “interest groups”, political organizations / parties, etc.
The “age of the Internet” has now permitted anyone (to include myself now) to “publish” anything without regard to its content. These “publications” can “say anything” …. and, unfortunately, their “validity” / truthfullness / accuracy many times is taken / judged on the face-value of the quantity of times of publication and regurgitation. [This latter being a form of word-of-mouth advertising -- a form that has been recognized as the most powerful form of advertising that one can achieve.]
And so, … as you and Jim have warned ….. do not trust anything from anyone …. until you can divine and understand their motives.
———
Today, I start on Sean Broderick’s “The Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide”.
never COULD trust them. it’s ALWAYS been a rigged game. the only way to go is with trailing stops and hedging with options if you insist on playing the game. it cuts into your profits but brings your safety factor up somewhat. and you have to stay on top of things. gone are the days of making a move then forgetting about it. as for where to put emergency cash here’s the rule; if you can’t eat it, drink it, shoot it, or smoke it, forget it. gold and silver are fine but if the powers that be keep going the way they are, the fall is going to be nuclear and when you get hungry, the one who has the food and water isn’t going to feed HIS (or HER) family with either of them but he (or she) might trade you for smokes or a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. although, gold is easier to chew than silver, it being a softer metal and all so keep that in mind. good luck!
Greed overcomes prudence every time so Wall Street is never to be trusted again until they prove themselves with a decade long “excellentz’ track record.
Greed overcomes prudence every time so Wall Street is never to be trusted again until they prove themselves with a decade long “excellent’ track record.
Until we pull the plugs on the thugs the game will continue.
Washington and Wall street are inland gangs stripping us of our pride, financial means
and our childrens future.
Our hope lies within us and the difficult decisions we make today!
We need a new vision of less excess and core values that will steer us back to the
promised land.
The trap will continue as long as the greedy and gullible buy the lie.
I follow cyclical theory. Wall Street is the MATERIAL of the cycle (not the analyzer) and we are the ones who analyze the cycles they create. It’s up to us to have a theory about them, not to listen to their predictions.
Thank you for your input. I agree that Wall street can not be trusted. I also agree with the fundamental, news, etc. effecting the market but the investor does not know when. I have wondered for some time why it is that the forecast news reports being not yet released seem to already be moving the market? Is there a leak in the news?
I would also like to know if you are sincere in your”God bless” and which God or god are you referring to?
Fred
As the Master Manipulators lead the herd further down the Exter Inverse Pyramid, they are indeed setting up the next trap: The greatest Ponzi bubble of them all- Fiat currencies and Treasuries. Exter’s ULTIMATE safety remains at the apex of the Inverse Pyramid: GOLD/SILVER… history’s only proven refuge from government’s Keynesian heresy. Debt
does NOT equal wealth….. Just ask Greece, Portugal or Spain how the EU mandated ’sovereign debt’/GDP ratio dilemma will ultimately be resolved-DEFAULT or BANKRUPTCY?
interested to know what is happening and look forward to work together instead of division of commentators to move forward for the common interest and welfare of all the people here and abroad
No. Wall Street is self-serving and only cares about them making money.
I have recently read reports about the major banks manipulating the gold and silver markets. Frankly, it does not surprise me. As much as I hate to admit it, the only way to play the game is to have insurance such as options and/or use stops.
In my opinion, Wall Street comes up with explanations as to why things happen rather than simply tell the truth, probably because the truth is not profitable to them
trust wall st.? how can anyone put those three words in the same sentence? wall st. is the hub of the biggest criminal greed machine in history. venerable old investment houses were converted to scamming, scheming, corrupt and sociopathic entities that extracted the financial life out of millions of people. they go on in this effort and are still handsomely rewarded for it instead of prosecuted for it. the obscenity of it all is unprecedented. they are the modern day Nero. and…that’s what i really think!
Market Timing from any source is futile for precisely the reasons you mention. It may be possible to predict what will happen, but not with sufficiently precise timing to trade. Investors who try hurt themselves more than they help themselves. The stock market is for long-term investors. Long-term can be very long.
It is also a mathematical certainty that investors on average will be most aggressively invested at the top of the market and most conservatively invested at the bottom. It most be so because at the top of the market there is more wealth in aggressive investments by definition since that is what makes a market top and the reverse is true at the bottom.
Investors can guarantee they will do better than most by sticking with a consistent allocation to low-cost index fund. If your target allocation is 70% equities, you should be 70% at the top and 70% at the bottom.
If by “Wall Street” you mean Brokers, the answer is no, never. Simply put, they will never tell you not to buy more when they are making their living from selling to you. You cannot get good advice when someones livelihood depends on them selling you a product. In the case of Fee based managed accounts, possibly, but real good advice seems to be a very rare commodity. How many advisers advised getting out of the market two weeks ago and saving a 7-8 % loss in the portfolios? I did not see that happening, did you?
I believe that ‘market psychology’ benefits those ’skilled’ in it, the most. With a free market, you have many who benefit to a certain degree. However, it is those who have high market skills, and those who spend much of their time in the investment market environment, who will ultimately gain the most. It is when those who are ’skilled & market savy’, who give themselves over to greed and a ‘limited pie’ mentality, that we see the market manipulations, the ‘mis-direction’ of investors, and rich getting richer through greed and avarice. So to answer your questions: There are still ‘Some’ on Wall Street that can and will seek to anticipate marjor market turns. The issue is due dilligence on the part of the investor to discipline their own wealth pursuits with honesty and integrity and transparency – then to demand the same from Wall Street. To the second question: Yes, some are leading investors into a new trap and some are not. If we as investors will return to personal responsibility and accountability, and demand the same of Wall Street, we can effect a ‘rearrangement’ of Wall Street, and reduce the number of those falling into new traps.
No way. Wall Street like any group of business people run on one thing, the profit motive. Today, the Street’s search for profits have morphed into greed and arrogance of such magnitude that it threatens the Republic’s very stability. Wall Street’s mega banks need to be broken up and the best way to do that is to let the big banks fail and we can pick up the pieces later. I am not of the school of thought that thinks the end of Citi, JPM or BofA will be the end of the US economy. Yes there will be pain, but hardly the end of the world. These companies need to feel market discipline and the best discipline I know is bankruptcy. Endless bailouts for bad bets is a recipe for a far worse disaster than the failure of all of our major banks combined
So no, as long as Wall Street knows that it is profitable to lobby for more bailouts, push for Wall Street Friendly advisor’s to the President and in key administration posts, they will not be concerned with anything relating to the long term health of the economy or the nation. Greed like that is a disease and in the end, it will kill us all.
Finally trust is an important matter in finance as is the word confidence. Right now, that trust has been misplaced in several levels. First, American banking is increasingly unsound. One look at the troubled bank list at the FDIC tells you this is so. But much of this trust is maintained by shoring up the system with taxpayer dollars when they fail. This is all well and good but only up to a point (for small and medium sized banks). In short, investors must be ready to eat losses but more importantly, accounting in these banks must be rock solid and audits should be merciless. I think America’s trust in banks and banking will be put to the true test in the next couple of years, bailouts are becoming increasingly unpopular and may be the lightning rod issue in November. Bernankes reappointment is not going to go down well with those out of work or scared of losing their jobs.
In short, Americans are beginning to lose confidence in the Financial managers of the US economy. I look for more loss of confidence in both Wall Street and those hand picked administration officials who keep doling money out to banks who are no longer solvent and the President who lets them do it.
In short, the crisis of trust in Wall Street is becoming a crisis in trust in both the Obama administration and soon, in the House and Senate as well. I think the election of Senator Brown is a sign of things to come.
There is an elephant in room and no one wants to see it for what it is. I wrote on this a couple of days ago.
Dr. Weiss is just about the only guy out there that really gets it. I am thankful for his work.
No, I don’t believe Wall Street can be trusted. They seem to have their focus on very sort term movement, and they have very little vision of the long term results. Wall Street seems to be always advising by looking in the rear view mirror.
No one is to be trusted. Especially the Government. Does anybody really believe the figures that have been released lately?
We will never be able to trust Wall Street until it is returned to its original design and limits on how much stock one corporation or individual can own. Do away with options, long and short, preferred and common plus hedge funds. No insider information.
No I don’t trust wall street. They are in bed with the politicians. It boggles my mind how the politicians can allow CEO’s to take millions and millions from the company they took down. It looks like everyone is for themselves in this game.
Sadly, the phrase “Trusting Wall Street” has become an oxymoron. No, they can not be trusted to police themselves. I agree that absolute power corrupts. We need highly seasoned regulators that understand securitizations, ratings, risk, and are trained in the area of fraud and detection of it. How do we prepare for major fundamental events when we don’t know when they will happen? Excellent question, and I wish I was smart enough to answer it. I expect 2010 will become a day traders haven, with volatile peaks and valleys. Technical analysis tells me that today the market is oversold, as are gold, especially silver, oil& gas. So, the market will keep bouncing off the bottom or move back up. But when, or what, if anyone can tell us, please do.
Thanks for the opportunity to join the discussion. I’m probably in the minority but I’m not so ready to “blame” Wall Street. Is WS culpable? If they are, so are we. I’m in the investment business, whatever that means to anyone. I find there are so many people ready to blame someone for their misery. We live in a capitalistic system and this should not be forgotten. Certainly it carries all the traits of human behavior be it greed, charity, profit. loss, etc.
I’m also a high school math teacher and constantly address my students concerning the ultimate question of know thyself first, always checking for issues and facts in the problem solving arena.
NO TO MUCH STOCK DILUTION
OVERRATINGS BY MOODYS
THEY HAD RATED SUBPRIME BONDS AAA
SHOULD BE RATED FFF THIS HELP CAUSE
THE WORLD & US CRISES BANKS ARE STILL IN TROUBLE
WITH OVER 7 MILLION ADDITIONAL DEFAUTS.
I believe there is a lot of money to be made in the markets! I DO NOT Trust Wall Street! There is so much money involved that they put a spin on everything with their own motives. I do believe there is wisdom to play it safer right now. I really enjoy the advice I have received over the years from Weiss Research. I believe in America, the free enterprise system and our form of government. The current administration’s economic policies really scare me. I have no confidence in them or Wall Street. I believe we must move forward carefully, but I don’t think we should bury our head in the sand or start stocking rations. Thank you Martin for your solid conservative approach to the market.
No you can not trust the street it is not in their interest. You can trust people not the street.
Dear Martin:
Banking & Trading Firms such as GS, MS, JPM are out to make money for their Clients. Their favorite clients, however, are themselves, and their Hedge Fund partners.
G.S. which was a lead under of a $11 Billion Greek Government Bond offering on January 25, 2010, just issued a “research” report describing the potential insolvency of several countries in the EuroZone such as Greece, Portugal, Spain, and so. At the time they were selling this potentially toxic paper to their clients they were probably buying credit default swaps which are contracts which pay off if the country defaults.
As one Senator observed, during a recent Senate hearing, this is like selling a mechanically defective car, and buying a life insurance policy on the family to which you sold the car. They call it “Hedging.”
Unfortunately, the era of easy money is gone. You can still enjoy life, but you have to use your own money if you have any left after the debacle of the last decade. Wall Street is now like a casino- if you hang out there long enough, you are going to go broke.
Frankly, I have equal distrust of the U.S. Government and Wall Street. I think the worst problem is the incestuous relationship between Investment Bankers such as Goldman Sachs. The Investment Bankers are controlling the markets with the implicit approval of the U.S. Government. People like Henry Paulson, Tim Geitner, Senator Cox, Barney Frank, etc. should be wearing orange jump suits instead of enjoying the fruits of their dishonest labor.
Wall street cannot be trusted to pick tops or bottoms. I rely on breakpointtrades and other charts to determine breakouts either up or down.
No, as a small business owner, and small time investor, I cannot trust Wall Street.
My solvency can’t beat the market.
All I can do is try to protect what little I have, try to keep the business running and try to stay a step ahead of the government and jobs-killing regulations.
Oh yeah, not do business, or invest, with obvious thieves at the too big to fail banks, and our own government/regulatory system either.
One thing our marketplace has become is a place of complainers. Our government refuses to accept responsibility for its actions that have exteneded the woes of our econmoy and financial system. Shareholders do little to no due dilligence with their proxy votes, then complain when some executive makes bad and unethical actions/decisions. What is needed in financial investment marketplace is a ‘Tea Party’-like movement to reclaim our free market, and steward it properly. I for one believe it can be done, however, it will take individuals and companies who will make the decisions, and live the behaviors needed to rearrange the system. This is how our nation became strong – not by complaining and pointing the finger alone, rather, we took beliefs and positions that were unpopular, were judged as impossible, yet became reality. Until someone says along with me that “I will find a course of principles and practices that are in alignment with my conscience and free market structure”, and followed by someone else doing the same, until a critical mass is attained, the rearrangement of the financial system will not change. Macro Change in the system is not sustainable until there is Micro Change in the individuals.
No, you can never trust mainstream Wall Street for anything. Possible if you know a higher up whom provides you with an insider tip. And yes, they are leading investors astray currently by their silence. The only way I will trust Wall Street Thugs and Banksters on Main street is when they are in Jail.
Buy gold and take possession. Their silly monopoly money is only usefull when you have to buy major things. They even try to manipulate gold prices. Get out of GLD and buy physical gold. Then we can help “Break the Banks” as they are very short on gold.
Dear Martin,
Having been a veteran of twenty years in Wall Street mainly Merrill Lynch as a commodity fund manager (1964-1983), I can assure your readers that the very nature of the beast is to consume wealth. People that are attracted to Wall Street are self-centered egotistical greedy men who seek only personal reward. We often refer to the “Street” as a gladiator circut where only the strongest survive daily combat.
This tragedy will continue as long as the vast majority are financially ignorant of the true role of monetary history. We deliberately misinform the masses about the real facts about central banking. Public Education is the ultimate solution.
Respectfully,
Dr Tom OBrien
Founder, Center for Natural Wealth
I agree with your statement that Wall Street can not be trusted. I base my decisions on my own analysis of what I ” actually ” see, and hear about what the Federal government is doing / proposing and the likely future repercussions of those decisions and then I react accordingly .
NO!
Mainly Tech. Analysis coupled with macroeconomics.
I have not trusted brokers for 30 years. Brokers are salesmen who make money on commissions. No buying or selling, no income. It is a conflict of interest. I would trust an investment adviser who gets paid a percentage to have my best interest at heart, but I don’t think I can trust him to time the markets either, because he will get his info from the brokers. The only thing left to do is trust honest, independent newsletter advisers such as yourself and crew.
I will get back in the market when those responsible for the crash have been prosocuted and sent to prison. Doesn’t look like I need to get back in any time soon because I’m still waiting for the trials.
I just don’t trust Wall Street and now consider them a buch of crooks.
Farrell
Wall street can not be trusted.
It should not exist.
It is a parasite, and should be eliminated.
Difinition of parasite; an organization that
lives off the people without contributing
anything. Examples; Wall Street, just numbers ,” Federal
Reserve”(actually a corporation, look in phone book)
Internal Revenue Service (“Collects”Interest on national Debt
and gives to banking corporation),Medical practice, expensive
pharmaceuitical drug business. Political system giving pay
increases to itself and ingaging us in wars that kill and destroy.
High Interest Credit, insanity. Fiat paper,IOU nothing.
“Wall Street” has never done a good job of predicting where the markets might go or when changes might occur. Just like the symbol for Merill Lynch (a bull), they are perpetually bullish because that is what works best for their business model. If you’re looking for what might happen next and when changes might occur, then you need to look outside Wall Street, to independent market analysts. Isn’t that why most of us read the newsletters and bulletins that organizations like Weiss and others put out?
Wall street is corrupt. Its a sickening feeling every time I think about what goes on behind closed doors.its a playground for the rich elite insiders who manipulate the system.
Being an Australian resident I have seen how Wall Street insiders have ravaged the world markets since the up-tick short selling rule was removed mid July 2007. Not by coincidence this occurred the same time as the USA market peaked.
Until this rule is reimposed, transparency is introduced across the board and trading is forced back onto the exchange where the stocks are listed, I would have nothing to do with Wall Street.
Indeed, if it were possible, I would ban Wall St access to Australian markets until such action is introduced.
Hard to outguess people who make a living guessing
No Way! And not only Wall Street experts, but how about auditors of WCOM, Enron, Bank of America, AIG, …. Where were they when the valuations were ‘looking’ perfectly fine!? And then dropped off by 95%!
Based on the hundreds of lawsuits currently involving wall street and the big boys, my trust in wall street has been completely destroyed. The crime doesn’t pay or build trust.
In my opinion they have lost a lot of my money. My answer has been retreat.
Wall streeters are like any other group of “experts”. You get 10 in a room and ask them to define a common principle in their discipline – and you get 10 different answers. Only in the case of the market, they are playing with other peoples lives.
Martin, as a young boy my father taught me a truth which was a little hard for me to understand then. I would share it with you now: “Son, to most people truth is how it affects them”! The only way we can have ever truly have peace and true brotherhood in any community (families, communities and a nation, or world for that matter) is to rely on eternal truths which can only come from God. No I don’t trust Wall Street any more nor do I trust almost any politition, but I still believe Truth will prevail.
Thanks,
Harvey Greer
I trust no one especially not Wall Street, but the purpose of Government is to regulate and they did not do that properly. Being from GA I have seen far too many greedy people capitalize on the ignorance of many. FINALLY they changed some mortgage lending practices, however, too many had already gone down. I can NOT trust Government as it is led around by the nose by corporate lobbyists. It is difficult to invest in anything these days that will give the abililty to sleep at night. I appreciate your wise advice. It is helping me stumble through the storm. Our government is supporting things like huge HUD developments while there are millions of houses in foreclosure that could be rented at below market rates. It is apparent they don’t realize that there is a severe oversupply of housing at this time. The government is in bed with the big corporates and the only ones that are benefiting are the CEO’s and congressmen getting kickbacks. Our country was founded on the premises of rights for the individual and these antics are not supporting that premise. The little businesses that are trying to support themselves have no hope in this economy. Yet all we can do is hang on, change the current administration and PRAY it will be soon enough to keep us all from going bankrupt. Someone needs to pull Obama aside and clue him and his people in. The country wants to go back to work…not next week, not next month..NOW. If they had given each working American citizen the money they gave the banks…hmmmm, I think we would have had a more positive outcome.
I would answer the question “Can Wall Street EVER Be Trusted?” with a paraphrase of Boris Badenov’s answer to Natasha Fatale when Boris started up a “fan club” to rival that of Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose’s fan club: Of course they CAN’T be trusted…they’re the Federal Government’s type of people. Wall Street “financiers” get away with cooking their books and coming up with figures from out of nowhere, which causes John and Jane Q. Public all kinds of financial woes, and all the Federal Government does is give them a slap on the wrists. And now, Wall Street wants us to trust it? Please!
No. Wall street is for wall street insiders and we are allowed to play the game. It is in their best financial interests to lead the outsider investors into traps for their gain. I am not saying one cannot make financial gains in the stock market, but one has to be informed and know what they are doing could be lost.
Simple answer…NO. I trust Wall Street to try to make as much money for themselves as they can. I go by the old adage, “never invest more than you can afford to lose”. I’m not into investments for a hobby; I’m just trying to make adjustments to my retirement plan to make up for the lack of interest payments I used to get on bank CDs. If interest ever gets back to the 5 1/4% passbook and 7% CD rates I’ll withdraw from the stock market and go to all CDs.
Can you EVER trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns? No, because investors of money depend on decisions in the form of laws, bills and rules made by politicians who are influenced by lobbyists who are paid by certain investors of money for those politicians. If so, when? When those bills are signed by the President.
Are they now leading investors into a brand NEW trap? Yes, green or alternative energy-solutions.
I believe the problem evolved from fee based transactions. As soon as banks and investment funds departed from traditional compensation forms, irresponsibility developed. For example, with respect to issuing mortgages banks quickly packaged them and sold them for a fee. They also typically outsourced the servicing of the mortgages in order to lower their costs. Afte and multiple assignments, no one was minding the store. In some instances, the mortgages were never recorded nor the later assigments. The result in some states is that no meaningful title search is possible. I suggest there be a retained liability/reserve for the issuing institution similar to a minimum capital requirement plus a clawback provision in each instrument to so that a future holder of the instrument could assert a claim against the originator up to a defined limit based on fees earned by the originator.
I also think it is ridiculous and stupid that insurance companies, endowment funds, cities, states and the federal government is wrapped up with Wall Street investments (gambles) which leaves these entities at Wall Streets mercy. After the manipulators have created the bubbles and profited from them at the expense of the outsiders, they now begged the Government to save itself and used bailouts with the citizens money and then issued themselves bonuses all the while the Country goes into insolvency. Then the politicians lobby for more printing of money that is declining in purchasing power and who cares about the citizen that works for a living. Not the politician. He/she votes a raise in pay with more healthcare benefits for the family. It`s great to be a politician ; great benefits.
Can Wall St. be trusted? A resounding *YES* — *IF* what should be a limited federal US government stops playing the Wall St. puppeteer.
WOW! A ton of comments with this question. Just a brief survey shows that MOST people feel the way I do. No trust in the system. Just like a marriage..when the trust is lost and can’t be recovered it will fail. I don’t know if we’ll ever see the day when we can say we “trust” wall street.
No, I would never trust or expect a WS analyst to predict the turns and/or bubbles. Their incentives are to get people to buy stocks, bonds, and mutual funds to keep the party going. That’s why as investors we need input from multiple diverging viewpoints and make up our own minds on investment decisions.
First time = shame on them
Next time = shame on me
New rules of the game…..no third strike – and they’ve aleady used up 1st and 2nd strikes
Given the number of variables on the Global Horizon, it would seem impossible for Wall Street to pinpoint well in advance, specific events. I feel jumping on board as the train starts to move and jumping off when it starts to slow down illustrates a common sense metaphor. A business friend once admonished: A pig gets fat but a hog gets slaughtered.
Trust Wall Street? Why? Because of the risk, like the lottery, people are always hoping for something better and are willing to blindly trust anthing and anyone without doing the due-diligence. That’s the name of game of the Wall street sales folks in general. no different than politicians. Politicians are greedy bunch who don’t pay for a thing, vote the own why and generally “speak with forked tongue”.
Unfortunately, it is dangerous to be a realist and speek the truth because every one will pounce on you. I’ve learned much since the break from brokers and advisors and switched to Weiss. I had to go threw an education process and it has been tough. Many mistakes writing trades incorrectly, keeping track of all the information an reading email incorrectly. However, when this correction started on Thrusday, I was very calm and did not panic as I had many postions covered with stop losses and I don,t think I got hit too hard. I don’t like the losses, but going forward I should do much better. A big thanks to you and all your staff, for your honestly and to the point opinions. Bottom line, I will not go back to the traditional Financal service sector, and do hope I can teach my wife some of the things I have learned so if or when some happens she can continue. One more point: What if commissions structures where to be reversed? Paid after good performance instead of paid to perform.
Trust Wall Street? Absolutely not. You do not trust a sales person. Caveat Emptor is not a proverb without good reason. Any investment, whether for personal or business reasons requires the investor perform ALL due diligence. We real estate appraisers perform, or were supposed to, the due diligence required for a secured loan for the bank. The bank can only sell the loan if it is fully secured and that is where our valuations come in. Our work is still reviewed by the bank’s underwriting department as part of its internal due diligence. The requirements of a conscientious investor are no different. As Ronny said, “Trust, but verify.” OK so that involves work and effort, Awww! it is your money. I for one have already lost all the money and investment s i cal to, and I did my homework. I had certain facts and market factors hidden from me. Am I complaining? Yes, a bit, but I have learned so as to not repeat the same mistakes. if wall Street is beating the drum for their investments, the question that begs the asking is “Why shoould you need to promote something that if it was worthwhile would need no promotion?” Hmmm?
I find that neither the popular media or wall street can be trusted. Witness the unexplained drop in the unemployment data. Yesterday I read about this before the report. They just changed the jobs number so much that the unemployment looked improved. Now I have added the government to the list of those who cannot be trusted.
What am I doing? check the data as much as possible in this dangerous environment and then trade what I see, not what I might be led to believe otherwise. In this world of twisted information the old phrase caveat emptor seems all the more appropriate. I have shifted focus to day trading the Forex while guarding my risk of losses very strictly.
Never say never. There may come a time when Wall Street can be trusted but its not now. There are to many conflicts of interest among Wall Street brokers and investment bankers. After all, they make a living on convincing investors to buy stocks and bonds. Its against their interest to say we are headed for a double dip recession which may be prolonged so get out of all your stocks and most of your bonds now. They are also concerned about liability if they advise their client’s to sell and the market makes a significant recovery as it did in 2009. Finally – as you indicate – Wall Streets’ record at calling major corrections in the market this decade has been abysmal.
“NO ” answer to question. Find reliable investment advice such as provided by the Weiss organization and temper it with personal experience. If limited experience, caucus investment in their recommendations until you get enough experience to trust your judgment.
I have come to view warily any entity that becomes too big and powerful. They have too much latitude to blame others, be self serving and do too many things under the table. One of these collective entities is Wall Street. They seldom have transparency and tend to run us blindly down the road they want us to take. Shame on the rating companies as well. Being paid for ratings is a practice that should be abolished forever, if that has not already occurred.
As for Wall Street, banks and investment firms must be separated from each other so that the risks of the investment firms do not impact the banking system. How many “bubbles” is it going to take us to wake up to the fact that we all need the services of a Martin Weiss, who tells it as it is?
These days you can’t trust anyone or anything. Informed individuals are fully aware that everthing is rigged. Data being published by the government is flawed, an elite few control what happens on wall street (which affects the pensions and savings of the masses who are not money savy) and these elite few have the inside information to make big profits at the expense of the masses. There is plenty of blame to go around from politicians, to big wall street fat cats. These same people work very hard to control wages (in keeping them low) which essentially is modern day slave labor.
Martin,
Wall Street has totally lost all credibility with their performance of “sell at all costs”. Besides not having any true knowledge of what was going to happen in the markets, they simply were only interested in gaining commissions.
I believe that the safest guide is to select good and honest advisories, then prove them to be so with your own thorough investigations and your own instincts.
You need to do the work.
Bill Fumei
NO TRUST. I BELIEVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SHOULD STOP TALKING AND START ACTING. I THINK THESE PEOPLE ARE TRULY THE SCUM OF THIS EARTH,AND THEY NEED TO BE PUNISHED BY THE PEOPLE .GET THE BASEBALL BATS .
Martin I say NO, Wall Street can not be trusted.
It is up to each individual investor to do his own Due Dilligence
and act on the information he aquires.
Bob
No, they can never be trusted.
Yes we are being led to the next haircut!
Hi Martin,
I think the next bubble aside from the US Treasuries/bonds that the FED /Wall Street is targeting in the main street is the educational sector.
Baby boomers are all in their retirement age and the boom-bust cycle is basically exhausted in terms of which is the next sector to milk in terms of debt.
Therefore, they are making it exceedingly cheaper for students to get loans. They even give incentives of not having to pay the loan back on the condition that the graduates work for the government sector. This will also trigger massive college tuition hikes because of the easy money scheme.
This sounds so familiar – dot.com, housing bubbles.
Poor students who get sucked in this obvious trap of shadow banking system will find themselves in debt and without any jobs since they will end up competing with the rest of the still unemployed but more experienced work force.
God Bless Us All.
Raul
Hello Martin,
I have 12 years experience on Wall Street sorting out their messes.
NO ONE should ever trust Wall Street. The system is built to serve and profit them, not the average investor. They earn their big salaries and huge bonuses based on how well they lie, misdirect and mislead investors, to the investors’ detriment and Wall Street profit.
That is the name of the game. Most investors fail to learn, except the hard way, that they would be better off playing certain games at casinos than trying to get rich via Wall Street.
If one is not on the inside, they are on the outside and fair game as far as Wall Street is concerned. The insiders cannot even trust each other. If the amounts are big enough, most with experience know to expect the knife in the back.
Profits are good, insatible greed is not.
Investors beware, believe nothing Wall Street touts.
Why would your broker advise you to sell even if they heard the warning bells…it’s not in their interest.
Interesting question…there are no easy answers. I think there is very little trust in anyone or anything out there.
Wall Street and the Insurers pay big bucks (bribes) to our government officials so you cannot trust them to look out for the average American. All laws are written expressly for those in power. All media is controlled by those same forces. Taxing is a joke and at this point it seems the average American is being taxed without representation especially given the Supreme Courts latest decision. I am certainly not anti business as I’m a businessman myself. What I have decided to do is invest in myself and my business only (multi-family). I’m fortunate to have enough money to do so. Although I still read your words I’ve stopped reading almost everything else…I do feel it important to read and understand the winds of change but I feel the system is rigged and I’m glad that I have the ability to opt out…within reason as one still needs utilities, there are property taxes and as an apartment owner you need insurance for all those who take no responsibility for their actions. As William Blake said and I paraphrase, “you must create your own world or be enslaved by another mans”. I feel the American people have been enslaved by health care, debt, an out of control military and a government that has been so hopelessly corrupted it no longer represents America at all. Sad but true.
The financial services industry around the world and not just Wall Street has grown very fat over the last 70 to 80 years on the back of a capitalist system which in itself is not the problem. The prime and basic problem has been the lack of sound money. When not tied to real money (gold) Goverments (to finance vote winning projects) and bankers (to grow fat) always end up conspiring to defraud the public, by printing money and creation of credit on a huge scale. So while private individuals and businesses are punished dearly for imprudence, legalised fraud takes place above on a gigantic scale effectively demoralising us in the ‘free’ West due to endless bubbles and busts, eradication of real savings, creation of debt enslavement etc. In the not so free World these problems are exaggerated to help even sow the seeds of terrorism. Its astounding what is happening now and tragic to look at the wasted opportunities the US has had to set an example to the World rather than going abroad to fight the symptoms of an illness it continues to help create and flourish almost without knowing it (is it just naivety?). The only reason it has gone on so long is that ‘luckily’ for the US, the dollar has been the World’s reserve currency. I don’t believe in some particular conspiracy but there are just too many self interests at the top to stop what is going on. But there will be an end game and if history and human nature are anything to go by it will not be pleasant and there will be nothing to stop it. It seems like the credit crisis is like the first small wave of a giant tsanami and at the moment the sea is going out! Take cover. Most empires have ended in similar fashion – oh but in the case of the Minoans it was a real physical tsunami. The only long term answer is still free private capitalism based on sound money and that is the only way a real economy can evolve and grow instead of the ‘toytown’ version we have now. In the brief periods of our history when that has been the case real improvements in wealth have taken place with far less waste and with potential sustainability. But that ideal seems a long way off. Meantime while we create more of the worthless stuff in the West, the East builds their reserves of real money, they’re not daft. We should keep lobbying though and never give up. PS I am an optimist really!
Wall Street is governed by Greed.
Greed is The Great Achilles Heel of Capitalism.
Greed is a spiritual matter.
Greed cannot be “legislated” out of the minds and hearts of men.
America will always go through periods in time when Greedy men are able to gain the upper hand. This is a part of the current spiritual nature of the world in which we live, which is ruled by the Devil now.
The Love of Money is The Root Of All Evil.
I Timothy 6:10a
It is the love of money that drives Wall Street’s greed.
“All that is required for evil to prevail, is for good men to do nothing.”
the players on wall st make money whether you are buying or selling . they really do not care if the world financial system is imploding. they can not find their way out of a dark room in the prediction category much less when it will happen. the only group that has done a remarkable job in predicting anything give or take 18 to 24 months is the group LEAP2020.eu
what is going on;wall street has forgotten the history of say france the people will over throw the gvt.,but when only after they fully realize there is no longer a chance even for the chosen few then we can start over again.this subprime financial mentality is greed and stinks of up coming diecrimination of those that have and those who have not.will end in violence. wad
Wall Street is like the big banks, it is what they can get out of it and not concerned about the future of this country or the people.
Guys look at all these comments about Wall Street and think that if you extrapolated all these negative views to the rest of the US population you would end up with 99% of the entire population wanting something done about “The Street” and yet in this so called democracy nothing will ever get done about it. Note that I am English but the same applies in the UK – Government thinks that giving the populus the chance every five years to put an “x” against a candidate’s name is democracy. It isn’t because the “x” is meaningless.
I totally do not trust Wall St. companies to publicize data in a timely or useful manner to assist the avg investor. The system is designed for the big rollers to make money and it usually comes from all the “avg contributors” who are at their mercy. If we make money it is in spots and jerks with luck on the line.
Even data coming from the Govt are slanted and juggled to fit some political agenda and then revised later when the lights on the subject are dimmed. They are also negligent as a watch dog for all of us to ensure compliance with their “protective regulations”. I’m sure they are safeguarding their ability to solicite reelection funds from the same perpetrators.
Bottom line is that the system is stacked and it sucks. We need to clean house and then ensure our representatives do their jobs or get voted out again. It is our collective fault that it has gotten this bad and it will take a collective effort to now make the changes necessary to correct the situation. I believe the wheels on this effort are starting to role, however slowly. Your services along with others are helping to spread the word. Keep up the good work.
Wall street is a money manipulating, speculating machine. The market is one of people, who based on the principle of supply and demand, and based on this alone will buy and sell shares and other financial instruments. People buy shares with the idea that they can sell them later and make a profit. With this profit, they buy more shares or they spend their earnings. However, there is no production of goods or delivered services behind this financial exchange, other than for the financial institutions who make the market place possible. This is the genus of the money bubble. It is fundamentally dishonest as it is an attempt to really get something for nothing. This market operates on propaganda. If people are confident that they can earn money in this way, then will invest it in shares. If not, they sell or do something else with their money (which is not honestly earned money but just bubble money). We are dealing with speculation and greed from a small to a grand scale.
Technology is successful and works to the degree that it is operating on truth. Real laws and principles which are correctly applied. This results in stability. Engines that keep running, computers that keep working etc. There are laws and principles that apply to economics. When untruth and lies enter the scene, instability results along with a lot of arbitraries and complexities that only further serve to obfuscate the underlying truths and principles. Perhaps this is the grist that drives the speculation mill of wall street.
Martin,
Currently, due to the governmental penalties for placing saved money in bank accounts and short-term treasury bills, the average conservative person is being taxed at over 90%. This amounts to a confiscation to save the banks and other institutions that risked their resources unwisely. The government through the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates too low. Due to this policy, investors are turned into speculators and the bubbles will continue. I agree that one of the next bubbles to burst is the bond market. Yet, our local bank is trying to sell us into investing our remaining money in bond funds. Whose side are they on? Who is to be trusted? For some time, my view has been that we all need to be informed and stay informed. We need to stay on a continuing reading program and evaluate financial matters on our own. Think about the people who invested in Madoff, Stanford and Lehman bonds. Most of them were led into these investment by uninformed sales people looking for their next commission or bonus. Thanks for your input in keeping us informed from a long-range perspective.
No, Wall Street can not be trusted. They lie, cook books and care only about bonuses for themself. I was against the bailout and I was right.
Trust but verify worked well in another context. On Wall Street the hots gurus are short spanned and fade soon enough. Remember Old Joe and Elliott Wavers. Even the Garz got it right once but missed badly subsequently. Groucho had it right when asked if treasuries would assure a handsome retirement. He retorted yes if you have enough of them. We can’t trust any adviser truly to lead the way. Nor should we trust markets. My grandfather would not touch the market with a ten foot pole. He came through the depression able to work. He avoided debt like the plague and was able to accumulate a wonderful legacy.
You can’t trust Wall Street for anything. As soon as the current mess is behind us, the powers will be looking for new ways to beat the system. One answer is to bring back the Glass-Steagal (Spelling ??) Act and get stock holders involved in setting pay for these greedy managers. As long as the management appoints the boards they will get obscene bonuses and the shareholders get the shaft. I don’t know how to give the share holders more power without legislation. This crap about losing all the great and wonderful talent that got us into this mess in the first place without monsterous payouts is hogwash. They should be without jobs, not rewarded.
I would like to share the verse that happens to be in the middle of the Bible;
Psalm 118:8 “It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man”. It would be best if we seek the Lord, seek His direction and not lean on our own understanding. He desires what is best for us. Wall Street, government, etc. is filled with individuals seeking what is best for themselves. Our nation was founded on the principles of God and His Word, which is Truth. We have been led by lies from men, and will continue to be. God does love us, we all need to turn to Him for direction in all areas of our lives. He is our only hope, and may we live to “Bless God”
Dear Dr. Weiss
I am unfamiliar with Wall Street, but like any stock exchange your investment losses mean little to them. You have paid your fee to them and that all they care about.
Regards
John G
I never could even imagine such innocence!
Where the money will come from, if Wall Street will warn you about its move?
Any speculation is a business deal and strangers not invited!
Did Enron’s heads care about the fate of their employees? Didn’t they knowingly lead the herd to slaughter while licking their chops, concerned only about their very own bloated stomachs? Absolutely nothing different about Wall Street’s MO. They will skew numbers and do whatever it takes to ensure they get out without a thought at who is holding the bag. My conclusion is to do your own DD, buy silver and pre1933 gold coins, keep $$ under the mattress, and stock the cupboards with non-perishables.
Well, sure we can trust wall street. We should have the same amount of trust in wall street as we have in attorneys, used car salesmen, transmission repairmen, government statistics, etc.
A big thanks to all the liars and thieves in washington and wall street, and all the morons who believe Republicans are conservative or Democrats are going to help anybody
I have done so well in commodities, and puts on the banks
A bigger thanks to Investors Intelligence and Chris Rowe
No! I think it may be a generation before any semblance of integrity returns to Wall Street – and then only if the SEC & CFTC begin to actually do their jobs and enforce honesty. This would include seeing many Wall St. insiders taken to court and then given stiff prison sentences. Some need to be tried for treason. What we have now is a generation of Godless white shoe boys who mistake greed for integrity. I am out, and staying out!
Dear Martin,
Wall Street the world over represents the very pinnacle of Capitalism.
I.e. putting money into companies that will hopefully make a return for the investor.
But if the agents (i.e Wall Street) who place our money into ‘hopefully profitable companies’ can not be trusted to do that, what exactly have we discovered?
Perhaps we’ve discovered what has always been known: ‘Power corrupts, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely.’
Wall Street has been entrusted with other people’s money. People have trusted people.
But Wall Street People have done what Kingdoms, Theocracies, and other Dictatorships have done: bleed average people because they feel they are entitled ‘to be kept,’ because after all, they are beyond accountability.
This is exactly the relationship between a serf and his master, a king and his vassal,
or a dictator and a ‘comrade.’
Perhaps the earthquake in Haiti didn’t just open up fissures in that sorry land, but
fissures of trust have now opened up between men and men.
Hello Dr. martin and Associates!
Wow, I just blogged on the last question–I must be a day late! :) In answer to your question, no, No, NO, NNOOOO, Wall Street can not be trusted (see my entry for yesterdays question that I just entered today).
God bless us, everyone,
Lisa R.
Wall Street is, by its very nature, financially myopic: it operates minute to minute, hour by hour, day by day. Would you trust a very near-sighted person to tell you what is visible on the distant horizon? Of course not. Similarly, you shouldn’t trust Wall Street which is so consumed by the money of the moment that it doesn’t see/ can’t see the gathering storm in the distance.
I believe Wall Street has been misleading the general public for more than a year. Yes, those investors who watch their porfolios like a hawk have done well. Those who make a move in market allocation once or twice a year are the ones who will lose with this “false boom” that is ending right now as we speak. Those who really go out on a log and devote most of our portfolio to the aggressive allocation will do better in the market. If you want true returns that will stay, you should move away from Wall Street, or keep very little in it, as I believe we are in for another bear cycle. Metals and overseas markets seem to have more growth potential right now. I don’t trust Treasuries, not with Washington’s drunken spendthrift ways.
ALL THINGS WILL CHANGE , APRIL – MAY 2011 . ONE SYSTEM ONLY , ONE MONEY ONLY . TEN KINGS RULE, WE ARE ALL FOOLS . ITS THERE IN THE OPEN AS PLAIN AS DAY . YOU CAN SMELL IT , TASTE IT , YOU CAN SEE IT ? HISTORY – WISDOM – YOUR NOT THAT BLIND ARE YOU ? JEWS IN GERMANY 1938 – 1939 . ROME, THE FALL . DO YOU THINK THEY WERE ON TOP OF THINGS ? TIME IS OF THE ESCHEAT !
Dear Martin,
I’m not an investor. Nor do I have a significant bit of money or deep financial knowledge. I also live quite far from Wall Street (more precisely, next to São Paulo – Brasil). But this is the precise reason I took time writing here (pls see in the end).
My answer to your question is a resounding “No!”. No way I’d ever trust Wall Street to give prior advice to a major turn in the markets. In fact, I’d be not surprised at all if they deliberately mislead minor investors and the like into falling in the market loopholes – if they could profit from it. That’s exactly what happened in the latest crash, and they’re also profiting from people’s financial tragedy. And this is not something new either.
My point in writing here is simply to show it doesn’t take an expert – I’m not half of it – to be sure Wall Street isn’t a safe haven to base our decisions on.
Many thanks, best regards and keep up!
Emerson
I feel the answer is no !! I really feel that all they care about is linning their pockets with as much as they can at any cost, no matter who or what the consequence are.
thank you
jim trainer sr.
Whatever happen to “tar and feather”. Perhaps it shouild be revived for some of the Wall street scum bags.
Trust? I suppose there was a time I did trust Wall Street, but that time has long passed.
During the dotcom runnup I recall many of the so called financial experts on TV promoting certain dotcom’s. These people were some of the greatest actors on the planet. Proclaiming that there stock was going to the moon and you should put it away and forget about it! Also during this time the crimminal IPO market was going nuts. It was at this time I determined that Wall street was a fraud and was indeed the world’s largest gambling casino.
The answer is obvious – NO! No one can. The question remains who do you trust? Any
suggestions?
I think Wall Street can be trusted for one thing–greed. We can trust it to act in its own best interest. If the lessons of the last year have taught us anything, it’s that we cannot rely on our leaders or financial institutions to act on our behalf. They will be driven not by “enlightened self interest,” but by “self interest.” This is not new. What IS new is that this truth has moved out of the “fine print.” Speaking as a person who has been driven to the brink of bankruptcy by the depradations of the house and financial industries, I can say that the most horrifying thing for me this year has been the naked, calculated, cynical greed that has driven us from disaster to disaster.
We all adjust to the way we think things work and often get caught with some development we should have foreseen. And I think we learn most of what we “really know” the hard way. I learned years ago to not borrow a lot of money. When the interest rate went up to 21%, 1981, then I had way to much money borrowed and I lost my business. I haven’t borrowed much money since, except to buy a house, and then I insisted it be on a Fixed Rate basis.
The person just above my comments says don’t believe Wall Street. Well, don’t believe government either. It doesn’t matter if they’re Democrates or Republicans, they can’t be trusted. The Republicans used to be the party of Fiscal responsibility, but they lost that quite a while ago.
Trust? Confidence? In what? Read Martin Armstrong. His thesis advocates that Gold’s true value lies NOT as an inflation barometer but rather reflects the public’s COLLAPSE IN THE CONFIDENCE OF GOVERNMENT policies that continuously violate the RULE OF LAW.
Armstrong’s quote-” Whenever the Rule of Law gives way, the collapse of the state is not far behind. All excess capital begins to flee and investment that creates jobs diminishes.It becomes a self-defeating downward spiral from which there is no escape and in the end everything simply goes into default” The ULTIMATE ISSUE REMAINS the collapse of the public’s confidence in our own government’s continued defiance of enforcing the RULE OF LAW.
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.”-THOMAS JEFFERSON
A typical day 1.4 billion shares trade on the NYSE. The vast majority of these trades are by large investors. Proprietory trading allows banks to invest their own money in market positions. Hedge Funds push large amounts of money into small arbitrage opportunities.
The market is stacked against the small investor.
Wall Street brought us LBOs in the 80s leading to the S&L Crisis. Wall Street brought us the dot.bombs in the 90s. Wall Street gave us triple A rated junk bonds in the 2000s leading us to the brink of a depression. Wall Street’s “creative” destruction isn’t creative at all.
The SEC and The Fed are worthless regulators. The stock market crash of 1987 was orchestrated by Alan Greenspan when he raised interest rates in September 1987. The recession of 1991 was the results of Greenspan’s Fed tightening interest rates. The Recession of 2001 — again Alan and raising interest rates in 2000. And Alan raised interest rates 1/4% 17times in consecutive months during 2005 and 2006. The higher cost of credit exposed the housing market and brought the economy to its knees. Ben took over but thought he had everything under control in August 2007. The rest is a train wreck. The SEC let Madoff off the hook and how many other companies.
In a world where we are required to contribute to 401ks and IRAs to provide for our retirements, we are in harms way. But Money is power and influences everything.
As for timing, watch what Goldman Sachs hedge funds do — and follow their lead. They are the only Wall Street name that exists after the fall of Wall Street. Their minions are in high places all over government.
Caveat Emptor
a bunch of crooks . i left it years ago ..its all greed and deception , manipulation and the elite bankers . It’s Satan place.
vegas is saferplace and they call it Sin City . Wall St is a whore house of investments that screw people ……. they all pay for their sins …Hell bound with without their bonuses and the end.
The way I see things.
How can you expect the markets to go up when the over all money the average person had has been wiped out and their income has shrunk in relation due to higher prices for oil, vehicles, repairs. Food, credit card rates, and housing.
The Market was run up on speculation the price paid for stocks that was and still is being paid is based on someone else paying more later for some unknown reason to me.
There is no reson to pay todays and yesterdays prices for stocks based on the dividend received because few pay dividends and most that due is below the real cost of inflation.
So when are the investors out there going to get smart and pull their bids?
The pyramid made of sand will colaspe when the rain hits and I figure soon in 2010
The answer is NO!
They are in competition with investors.
There are many examples, but one that should suffice is Merrill Lynch’s recommendation to by WPPSS bonds they were trying to unload on unsuspecting customers.
Since Wall Street is usually predicting the stock market to go up, they can be right when the market goes up, but almost never right when the market goes down.
a bunch of crooks . i left it years ago ..its all greed and deception , manipulation and the elite bankers . It’s Satan place.
vegas is saferplace and they call it Sin City . Wall St is a whore house of investments that screw people ……. they all pay for their sins …Hell bound without their bonuses and the end.
Greenspan, Bernacke all men that should be hung for what they have done to this country and keep their mouths shut ..they are bought and sold these whores of the day & night . ..they work to fill up the Federal Reserve $$$ The people that run it all ! wars , wall street, the bubbles and the depression that is coming
Wall Street is filled with reactionaries who don’t think they just act. Act stupidly I might add, like Obama ( the Messiah ) spoke about the police also without knowing what he was doing. I get so tired of every little world event becoming a reason to kick the market down or rarely up.
Your comment ..
“Can you EVER trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns? If so, when? Are they now leading investors into a brand NEW trap? ”
This misses a key point in my opinion . Wall street is dominated by large banks who trade short term trends .Traders are not interested in the long term fundamentals .They just want to ride a trend as long as they can and when it goes against to get out before the suckers. Therfore your expectation that they could be trusted to call major market turns is misplaced .
Without radical reform this trading cutlure will lead the markets to have an extremely short term perspective and this will lead to huge volatility as this herd charges around like a bull in a china shop one minute greedy and the next fearful . This is not a good for the people living on main street as we have seen recently. Fundamental reform is way overdue here .
Wall Street is the true meaning of American Greed. You only receive info what they want you to receive – only after they have made their play
Of course not, Wall Street can not & should not be trusted.
Dear Martin,
If you have farmland in the U.S. or Brazil you are wiser than Wall St. Wall St. now has its knives sharpened to carve up any restrictions on derivatives, a new Glas- Seagal law or anything else. They will throw the world back into depression mode. Even sovereign govt. funds are crumbling. Please give us some way we can keep our capital as retirees. Every day the market is killing us.
Best, Carl Kortepeter
New Amsterdam (New York) was formed to make money and take care of those that were in power. Early on the country was heading one way and New York was only interested in making money – check the history. Remember they gave the Indians blankets with Small Pox to wipe them out. Is it any different today? Wall Street takes care of Wall Street 1st. Beware the small independent investor!
I don’t believe that Wall street Is capable of being trusted, since money is power, they are no better than the base politician, they can easily move the markets as we have seen with Goldman Sachs etc.
Hi Martin,
Frankly, the only successful investors I know are those that don’t look to
Wall Street for advice. Those investors are the ones that take definite profits before the market turns. The charts tell all. The broad market was unable to break through the highs for quite some time in the November, December time frame. That would have been a good time to take long term profits. It’s okay to take profits, even if you cannot catch the exact top of the market. When the S&P was unable to get above the 1150 area, and when it broke the weekly low of 1127.50, a huge bell should have been going off in your head, if you were in a long position.
Martin: I would’nt trust anybody on Wall St. around a glass corner with a load of garbage. The same is true for the last couple of decades with respect to our entire Federal Bureaucracy, both elected and appointed or hired. Nothing coming out of DC can be accepted as truthful or factual by their public constituents. Our legislators no longer listen to the people, use outright deceit and obfuscation to enact programs that are not wanted by the majority of voters. In short they are running the proverbial mushroom farm. There are too many people looking for the free lunch to see that it will come only at the cost of their freedom.
No, it is not in their best interests or in the best interest of society to help create panic.
The only route they might choose is to tell a few select individuals such as friends, realatives and special clients who can sell on the QT without creating panic conditions.
Absolutely not. I have a brother who is first VP for a major regional investment bank in VA…someone who I would expect to be attentive to my portfolio. His wife is a technical analyst for the same firm. I received no advise or warning from either of them of the tech or housing bubble crises. I’m nearly out of the market, and I’m increasingly convinced Wall Street lives in a world entirely of its own creation, structured and operated with the goal of transferring as much wealth from Main Street to its own pockets as quickly as possible before we all realize that what they’ve been telling us about “recovery” is as fabricated as if it had just been put out by Congress. We’re seeing the late stage of a sucker’s rally.
dosen’t it seem unbelievable that the greatest financial crisis since the great depression was stopped with exactly the same steps that failed in 1929. And in only one year! Oh, don’t pay any attention to those unemployed people they are the leaders of our new “jobless” recovery.
No, Wall St. cannot be trusted. The Street is inhabited by a criminal class. No offense to decent Italian Americans (I am one) but if they had names like Gambino or Corleone we would have NO difficulty in understanding the nature of Wall St.
I just wanted to thank you for your website, your seminars and your vast knowledge base. I’m completely out of the stock market, now, but I still look forward to reading your newsletters every morning…… more out of interest in the fate of this country than anything else! Your insights, candor, research and wisdom are all appreciated! Cheers, and Thanks again…
Dear Martin!
What is Wall Street exactly? As far as I observed Wall Street seems like Vegas. All that complex financial instruments! Worst is, that the average investor has no or little experience with them. Those who try new instruments are damned to trust in their brokers and those, quite naturally, trust in Wall Street and it´s analysts, who in turn trust in what they get out of the public relations departments of the corporations. Do you really trust in those or do they seem much too rosy? For me it´s like trusting in fortune-tellers. Sometimes they are right, most of the time they fail and when you think abaout their prospects, you will find that their forecasts are so foggy, that don´thave an answer on your questions. The crystallball will not tell you the right numbers in Vegas, and it won´t tell you the shares you can count on to be successfull. How do fortune-tellers differ from all those phony newsletters, which inform you about the hottest tips. By the time they get to you they are cold as ice. The onlyone you can trust in is YOU! so do your homework.
Greetings from a rainy Bonn in Germany
Günter
Martin Weiss, Why has it become that you are not talking about great ways to invest anymore? You seem to be stuck in the center of a wild time at the helm. Has the market got your zest? Do tell us what my we look forward to over the next 4 or 5 months in time? I could give you my best idea yet your the one to lead.
Warm Reagrds,
Nels
Wall Street has NEVER been concerned for the best interests of anyone but themselves. Stocks have been passing from stronger hands to weaker hands the past few weeks. They’re suckering everyone they can into this market and have been manipulating the prices for this rally. I have no doubt when convinced they’ve got everything they can-the plug will be pulled & make another fortune on the way down as well as buying broken stocks once this house of cards finally hits rock bottom several years hence. I’m so disgusted with all that has transpired I don’t know if I’ll ever “play” the game again.
Could you be right on? I’ve been working in the insurance industry helping retirees with estate planning, Income and safety of principal issues and have seen first hand the extreme impact of the markets on many clients and non-clients who because their brokers always tell them to hold on and “invest for the long haul” they have maximized their losses at a time when they needed to reach in and take income or pay for health and nursing care costs!. One was written up in the paper as having had a balance of over $1,000,000 in the market in 1999 and because of his broker’s lies and incompetent advice, he was forced to find employment at the age of 78 after suffering a stroke and found his accounts then down to a mere $200,000. HIs broker did him proud!
In this and every other like situation I have seen, Never once did the broker/”advisor” ever pick up the phone and call to warn or recommend any viable alternative. Not once did any client ever get a warning call to “take it off the table” at least temporarily to minimize losses. Wall Street (SEC and FINRA) even makes it illegal for anyone not properly licenced to suggest such a thing and those who are licensed will only make suggestions that keep paying themselves! (That’s money under “management”) (Did anyone see Suze Orman taking calls in October ‘08?’ I thought she would pop a vein right on TV!)
Are we being set up again now? You bet. You want proof? The Domestic Stocks mutual fund manager of the Decade had a 145 performance above the S&P 500… for the entire decade! I’m not sure that’s even a positive number with and average of only 1.32% per year… above the S&P500 which is still not higher than it was six years ago! Yet that is the BEST of the BEST! It makes everyone want to run out and buy!?)
The entire proposition of 401k savings invested as it is restricted to be, in the stocks, bonds and mutual funds offered by the plan, (much like the selections and investments in a Variable annuity) adds a trillion dollars to the markets from people who should never be investing their hard earned savings there at all because a) it ususlly is all their savings, b) they hardly even know what they own and they leave it to brokers/ administrators who are asleep at the swithch and clueless of anything you have been trying to make us aware of.
But I see no other way to prop up the markets than by tax qualified plans.
Besides, how else could W.Buffet or any other major player be assured of any chance to withdraw their money if they ever see the tsunami coming.
Now with international investors “sloshing” or dumping in foreign capital (because their local Casino is under water) we have a false positive in our markets.
(Most private investors who saw 2000,20001,20002,20003 series of waves, and now 2008 realize it’s broken and scarcely added anything back into the markets in spite of mere 1% to 2% returns on bank CDs.)
Those few investors who bought in during the lows, bought CITI and BofA and seem to be riding much higher. But NOTHING’s changed to make those big banks any safer at all, and as you point out, another wave may be coming while all of us are lulled into false sense of security as we blindly pick up the easy catch of fish on the beach due to the low tide; could it be precourser to a crushing tidal wave on the horizon.
Where is the wave? Savvy foreign investors will be yanking their money out as soon as the wave starts to crest. Then those slowest to react, ie. the 401k and pension plan holders will be the last standing on the beach as the “surprise” hits… again!
It’s cause will be… Bond failures, Muni-bond failures(CA), Government bond implosions, Bank failures (over 200 expected according to Bair of FDIC whichis broke) Will we be able to “bail out” CITI, BofA, AIG holding co, or any of the big 5?
The proposed new federal bankrupting… oops I mean “bail out” trillions requested as a”budget” for 2011 will never be enough. (Social Security is now taking in less than it pays out; the ten trillion dollar “health Care” bill? War in Afganistan/Iraq…? what’s next?)
Sooner or later who’s money has any value left?
WE may yet learn painfully that every fiat currency has ALWAYS failed; even ours.
But you are an investment guru, so don’t tell them what I said. The SEC would eat you alive. You might have to do some vein popping of your own.
Happy trails!
I agree it’s impossible to trust Wall St given that (a) the acclaimed credit agencies failed to provide warnings of the current financial emergency – and now seem to be going to going to the other extreme (b) the astounding sums of government (tax payers’) money pouring into Wall St appear to be going into a financial black hole while Main St and the real American economy are starved of funds and (c) the CDO scandal will continue to horrify right thinking people for many a long day.
I have yet to see anything that would lead me to believe that Wall Street really has placed their clients best interest before theirs. Even though their media message says “…our clients come first…” Therefore, one needs to take whatever Wall Street says with a grain of salt and do your own due diligence.
I agree with Karl completely. Tthe markets are a zero-sum game. As a trader, if I go up against you, only one of us is walking away with a profit, and I want it to be me. The financial markets are the last bastion of pure capitalism left.
Wall Street – and every other street – will always hide its intentions, talk its book and do whatever it can to gain an edge. Certainly what we’ve seen the past few years will go down in the annals of political/corporate corruption and incompetence, but don’t let that fool you. Investors and traders who have EVER trusted the Street need to think for themselves. Unfortunately, most people are too reluctant to do the work necessary to educate themselves, develop their own methods and perspective on the markets and to apply them on a daily basis.
Don’t believe anyone 100% – their perspective is not yours. Believe yourself. Do the work. There are no shortcuts in this game.
It seems that wall street has become stuck in the morass of self-destructive greed and arrogance. No, I do not trust Wall Street: to survive with them one must be as sly as a fox.
Wall Street is a system. The government is a system. You should trust Wall Street to be for what the system is for. It’s for making money. The government is for governing and everyone has a say in that but under the new Supreme Court Wall Street will have more of a say.
The private sector has a purpose but is limited. The public sector has a greater potential for huge projects and for public good. Confusing the two systems makes hash of both of them. We all use the public system to create a level playing field and all of the goals illucidated by the Preamble to the Constitution. Public Goods are never economic because they cannot be limited and therefore a profit is impossible. But they are public goods. We should support public goods and not be afraid to be taxed for that support.
The private sector has the advantage of great distribution and wild surpluses. However its a mistake to use those advantages as a reason to expect fairness and unregulated honesty out of that system. It makes its money on secrecy and the ability to win. The only thing that maintains order is rules. You need a dull generic playing field for the greatest creativity in the private sector. Too much uncertainty freezes the system.
Ray Evans Harrell, Opera Director, NYC.
Hello! Dr. Weiss: We want to know how to protect our IRA’s isn’t it frightening how the present regieme is just making it so miserable for us all and they don’t stop spending. We will vote all of them out but not until they can do more damage. Is there a way to turn this around once we are in charge? My grandchildren bless their hearts are too small to know of the tremendous danger we are facing like CHINA taking us over because of the husge debt. GOD HELP US ALL WE HAVE TO STOP THESE NUTS. WE KNEW WHO AND WHAT OBAMA WAS WHEN HE OPENED HIS MOUTH. MY QUESTION IS WHY WASN’T THE REST OF THE NATION AWAKE OR AWARE? Jean
No; I don’t think Wall Street can ever be trusted. It is only through independent analysts, such as your group, that the general public hope to figure out what is going on.
I just don’t know if the government is taking all the actions to manipulate the economic environment, how long it will work, and whether the fundamental economic principles will still apply eventually. However, during this man-made manipulative periods, it seems all the fundamental analysis that we have learned are not working…..very dangerous and difficult for investment in the market.
No Wall Street cannot be trusted , and yes I think they are leading us into another trap.
Your question; Can Wall Street EVER be trusted? The absolute response is NO!. How can we trust people that have no regards to ethics in business or for that matter on anything. Though I held a very good position in a Commercial Bank, I felt it was time to get out of such a corrupt industry. I want to address a very critical component of the housing crisis. How do you expect a person to make mortgage payments on a loan that QUALIFIED him/her at 1% interest rate? and when the note got adjusted to 2%, the borrower could NOT afford to pay anymore. Whose creation? Wall Street, yet now the inept government is trying to prosecute brokers (I know there are bad apples in that industry) whose only mistake was to sell what Wall Street offered. This was a mega PONZI scheme and Yes! the government is equally culpable. We rely in a broken government system which has demonstrated the lack of ability on anything. Look at The Dept. of Energy, The EPA, The IRS, The FDIC and the worst of the worst: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Reserve, three private institutions getting total protection from the goverment. My parents migrated to America for a better, freer life, now we are at a crossroad between Freedom and governmental servitude. Lastly, I want to commend you on your insightful and timely information, your accuracy and “call it like it is” comments are excellent sources to all of us. Keep up your excellent newsletter. Have a terrific day! Albert
What is trust when it comes to investing? Research, hard work. Never trust anything or anyone with your money. No you can’t trust wall street! The big banks ran the market up and now the big banks are selling on positive earnings reports, they are counting on the sheeple to gain trust so they can cash in with huge profits, and sink the ship on the sheeple, stealing even more money from the already cash strapped retirees. This next leg down ought to push what’s left of people’s money into save haven buying of precious metals. By this time next year the theft should be nearly complete. Metals should be at all time highs. I prefer physical metals, it makes riding the bull less painful. Market swing are not for the faint of heart. Metals are manipulated as everything else in investing. How about the manufactured unemployment numbers? I get a kick out of the lying, cheating, stealing, thieves, who are supposed to be looking out for the voters who put them in office. We need a military coup, to take over Washington in the right of the constitution. Hang all in Washington, except Ron Paul! Maybe a few others, but most should be Christmas ornaments hanging from the light poles, just to help the next group we elect, remember the consequences of the last group of crooks actions, hopefully we would get another hundred year of solid representation.
It’s not just Wall Street. It’s the government. Our current Administration is taking every wrong step it can. The Market hates uncertainty, and what the government is doing contributes greatly to that uncertainty. Meanwhile, investors don’t know whether to put money in the Market or run for the exits. As for me, I’m buying more gold.
Wow, I sure agree with the negative comments I have just read. There are so many reasons you can’t do a lot of trusting. First, nobody really knows the unknown, & then all the biases, self gain being one of them regardless of anybody else. And, we are all really competing with one another when we trade to make money, and, as with cards, the most experienced will probably win. Then there’s the Fed who can step in and mess up all normal thinking, and then unexpected bad or good news. and, surely there’s a lot of manipulation going on. It’s a jungle.
I just like to think a cash rich company making things people want and need to buy is a good bet for investment. But, be ready to lose anyway! A down mkt sinks all boats.
Marty
what a silly silly question!!!
why would you or anyone else
“trust” wall street?
answer me :)
Trust ??….Wall street is fueled by unsuspecting sheep, that we as lay people are. As soon as complacency is whiffed……they lower the boom……buy and hold is dead….if you have a small profit, take it…. no such thing as a sore winner…..Martin, thanks for your vigilance….
wHi Martin,
For the most part NO, you cannot expect MOST (but not all) Wall street firms/analysts to anticipate major inflection points or turns. Why? There are many reasons, including selfish interests, deceipt, deception and ignorance, greed etc..etc..etc..HOWEVER, the MAIN reason BY FAR is that most Wall Street analysts don’t do Fundamental as well as Technical as well as Cyclical analysis together!!! They simply are not trained and molded to do this type of analysis, which relies to a great deal on LONG TERM FINANCIAL HISTORY. The very few people that CAN do this CAN time the markets on an intermediate/long term basis the best and can do very very well by taking advantage of and identifying the appropriate Capital Market investments that are going up for generally the right reasons at generally the right price at generally the right time and switch out of these investments generally at the right time to other more promising markets. This is what I would term VERY SMART MONEY. This is absolutely NOT a buy and hold strategy.
Wall Street only makes money when we either buy or sell. Therefore, any news of broker opini9on or panic sheet that encourages trading is emphasized. Wall Street is n ot in business to make us rich, as the newspaper articles demonstrate, they are only in business to make THEM rich. About as ethical as lawyers!
If you had trillions of debt to rollover and refinance and the horizon says you would have to do so at a higher rate.If it was in your power would someone be inclined to collapse the stock market so that the money would seek the saftey of U.S. treasuries,bonds ect ect. Thereby allowing the refinance at a low rate, Would and could the the treasury and fed do that?????
Emphatically NO. They have no regard for anyone other than themselves. I try to do my own research on where I invest, sticking to things I know. Sometimes I think that the old folk had the right idea…save coins in a coffee can buried in the back yard. Wall Street has done nothing for the economy (are they even spending the mega bonuses?), and hopefully the next time they come to Washington for a bail out, the answer for them and the Banks will be NO. There is no such thing as “too big to fail”.
Martin, you question today is relatively simple to answer. Expect lot of deception from a salesman who has sole objective: sell his product. Therefore, when it comes to the choice of investment and markets direction predictions, I tend to trust independent analysts such as yourself and your associates rather than the stock brokers.
Regards, Anthony.
I have a question for you. This massive unemployment has been predicted in economic circles as “productivity lag” for at least fifteen years. The key was when Reagan changed the way that we looked at unemployment and decided not to count those who had dropped of looking for work. My company sponsored an economics and the arts conference in 2004 and at that time unemployment was vastly undercounted. Today we are looking at the real figures because of the pain but we haven’t begun to look at the reason. The US isn’t a company. We aren’t broke. We have huge resources. We are the largest economy and the third largest in territory and population but our states certainly are not competitive when compared to the small European states. We barely fund regular infrastructure but we don’t fund personal infrastructure except the 3 Rs and when our students can’t compete we try the same game harder and blame the teachers. That’s Einstein’s definition of insanity. We open up Russia and immediately they flood our country with tech and arts personnel taking American jobs because the Soviet System trained them better than ours. They took over IBM and the Metropolitan Opera for starters. Don’t get me wrong I love Anna Netrebbko. But Tom Coburn’s daughter is also a great beauty and talented soprano but America’s approach to Intellectual capital is not competitive with the Russian system of education. And the American attitude towards capital investment in people is a big part of the problem. Business requires hard evaluation and truth but we deny that and lie about it. So here’s my question. When Robotics and Automation removes most of the factory work in favor of dark factories that work 24/7 and require simple maintainence and the other jobs are outsourced then what will you do with the surplus people? If you’re broke you can’t buy the latest Apple product. We’ve been predicting this job crash since I first joined the Learn.org group and the Future of Work group on the internet in the 1990s.
Now its here and without the development of public goods jobs that raise intelligence and quality of life you are likely to have a 40% unemployment before you’re through. What then? A guaranteed income? Vouchers? We really need to get serious about this conversation because “productivity lag” or the “Baumol disease” is upon us and we don’t even know what the virus is yet. Certainly not from the conversations in the media or on this blog. REH
Good afternoon,
Is this a trick question? Wall street insiders often go short and bet against the market. When people panic-like as we speak or chat, these folks rub their hands together and it’s not to keep warm-they can afford heat.
Dear Martin, I really wonder If they really do know what they are doing or If they are just winging it,If they do know what they are doing then what are there real intentions?,this thought also extends to the way the U.S Govt. is going about its business regarding the bail-outs and the excessive printing of the american dollar,I read many of your emails and recall how your Father taught you in your earlier days what to do when the govt. goes of track,and I do thank you for what you learned and for sharing that knowledge with myself and so many others,Thank you and God Bless,Al Steele…
A consensus so far: Wall Street is untrustworthy and a close consensus is that that Government is equally untrustworthy. Informed, we can only try to protect ourselves as best we can: Due Diligence about any investments via Wall Street as well as about election candidates in 2010 and beyond including DD about those entities which are promoting investments and/or candidates. Pressure our current Congress to reform Wall Street and banks despite current and former Congress members being in bed with them. And let Congress know to get reform done correctly before incumbents are considered for reelection. We no longer need to “get the government we deserve” with voter complacency — we can get a government attuned to the interests of the electorate by insisting on it at the ballot box and continuing to keep a close watch on those elected. Government By The People, FOR The People………….
Greed and avarice are what Wall Street operates on! They are too busy figuring out how to game the market and play both sides. Add to it thier control of government regulators and you have a can’t win situation. At least in Vegas you have some odds of winning, as poor as they are!
I don’t trust Wall Street and I trust Congress even less! I read your newsletters and I just finished your book “Ultimate Depression Surival Guide”. I trust your advice Dr. Weiss more than I trust anybody else. So far so good. Thank you!
We are approaching the Seventieth Week of Daniel -Greed is their God & Lying & Cheating is their sport.They are a bunch of Bernie Madoff’s, who will fall like Humpty Dumpty.
Oureducational system fails to recognize the importance of teaching kids: 1) world finances post WWII 2) why and how USA figured into dominant role as world banker at the time 3) to read and listen to multiple news sources such as your emails, various newspapers and financial magazines and books on the subject of finances of USA and the world for answers 4) that a pointed finger has three fingers pointed back at the pointer 5) and to question, question, question like we did in the 60’s over the Nam war. Many other concerns plug up this system of teaching math and science as most urgent when history and the social sciences rule. A hungry man isn’t a political threat. So if kept hungry, ill clothed, and ill educated Wall Street will do as it pleases knowing that the answers the people seek are not in a math or science book but those other books Nazis and fascists burned. Just one small rumination I have. Thanks for listening.
The last week has shown us not to trust in Wall Street or Government or World economies. Someone has pulled the string that is unraveling it all and I suspect his initials are BO. And who hit the silver bell this week? All of a sudden it isn’t ringing in a true tone!!! Just when you think you have it figured out, then THAT segment drops like a dumptruck full of sand. Market is no longer a descriptive term for what we deal with. We are in a “catch and release” platform-they catch us off guard then release us to do it again!!
A simple…very simple answer….hell, no!….in the Silicon Valley tech bubble bust not one Wall Street firm put out a sell recommendation….even though companies like SunMicro fell from $120 a share to $2 a share. Anticipating a turn may be a timing issue…but for months and months…even a year’s worth…to go by and for there to be no warnings from the ‘Street’ — only highlights the self interest of the money greed on Wall Street. Wall Street has too many complicating factors to represent a ‘read’ to the individual investor — they bring the securities to market, own the securities in their own portfolios, and have special interest political ties. The markets are like religion…there is an opportunity for all to prosper….but the ’six white guys’ mess both the market and religion up over and over again!! Joan
lots of anger out there – much of it justified – both at wallstreet and the govmt – also at the newsletter writers – but remember when you invest you must do your own research – i.e. listen to what all of the above are saying – think about it – make your own decision – then be nimble – don’t be greedy – learn –
reminds me of a Will Rogers quote (might not have it just right )
— you can read to learn
— you can watch to learn
— but there are those that just have to pee on the electric fence
Whenever the politicialns open their mouths to talk something bad will happen on wall street. I think the whole market is manipulated by big investors and the little investor doesn’t stand a chance. You listen to two types of newletters-one says all is rosy the other evertything is going in the toilet. Can’t belive anyone. The only ones that know are those doing the manipulation and they won’t tell.
Dear Dr Weiss,
My belief is that this country is now in a depression and it will get worse with a second round of foreclosures caused by unemployment this spring. China will not back down about Taiwan.
There is simply nothing to go by. The media has given up on reporting and is working with handouts. They look very stupid and sound stupid. The White House is even worse they are focusing on a problem that cannot be fixed until the govt comes to its senses about preventative measures regarding health care. We’re in for some pretty terrible times. Our young people are being left behind and unable to find jobs or a future. Our politicians are not getting anywhere and find them selves working on the wrong problems for a year. Academics cant seem to get off the dole either. Bricks and mortar wont make it any longer. Virtual universities are in see the University of Illinois.( Springfield) If California education goes belly up 29 other states are in the same position.
Why wasn’t “jobs” a top priority when the stimulus payments was shown not to create one job. Why is Congress so attached to the Wall street and main banks and unable to control the pocket book of the treasury/ BONUS PAYMENTS still, and make loans. ? why is their so much cash that is being held by the corporations. ?
My advise to people WHO CAN AFFORD IT, is to move to Brazil, China or Russia at least they know what they are doing. ( for the short term)>. The brits are going through all this too. No word except on the BBC.
I WOULD CUT THE DEFENSE DEPT BY 50% AGRICULTURE BY 50 % AND CONGRESS BY 50%. THATS WHAT EVERYONE HAS TO DO AT THIS [POINT. and get rid of the Supreme court. They put Bush into office It was an election problem not a legal problem.
THESE PEOPLE HAVE LOST THEIR WAY. and while were at it, get out of the middle east ASAP. And who is responsible for selling $6 billion of defenses to Taiwan ?
Best Regards,
MAX CASEBEAU
(please withhold my name.)
No.
And this from a guy who has been unemployed for 3 + months and has close to $400K invested in a lame merill lynch managed account. You know they are making 1.5% on my balance while it falls.
Too scared and don’t want to spend the money on a high priced advisory service to manage my life savings myself.
All my life I did what ‘they’ said. Scrimped and saved, lived below my means, saved money literally every month and invested in stocks and bonds. For what. So wall street can take my money.
Another dissolusioned and aliented American saver and investor.
NO.
NEITHER DO GOVT REPORTS.
No we cannot trust the government or wall street to tell us of any impending major negitive moves in the market. The government wants everyone to believe the recession is over and that we are on the road to recovery. Creating positive attitudes is important because if enough people believe we are out of the woods they will / may resume spending, the consumer must spend to get us out of this recession. So the Government has their publicity machine running full time to convince everyone things are rosy. The employment numbers are all phoney due to lack of including people in the unemployment numbers who have removed themselves from seeking jobs because they are discussted. Also, they count people in part time positions as employed even though they are under employed and are still seeking full time employment. Also, the 1.5 million new workers coming into the workforce every year ( graduated high school , trade school or college) are not looked as as unemployed because they never had a job. Over 600,000 people were removed from the unemployment roles in December alone because they gave up on finding a job. The census bureau is employing over 900,000 people part time that are now looked at as employed. We are only in a positive GDP because of cash for cliunkers and the 48,000 first time buyers credit that has revived the low end of the housing market. Not to mention that the Federal reserve purchased 80% of the $1.5 Trilllion in US treasurys sold in 2009 in the agency market ( second to the auction ). The shit will hit the fan very soon.
Overall the events of the last year have caused me to lose faith in our basic financial institutions. I’ve always accepted the fact that the little guy can’t beat the big guys but believed that at least there was always an opportunity to do OK because there were institutions in place to protect us. However it’s clear that everyone of them failed to to their job. There were experts who did provide warnings about the impending doom but unfortunately the powers in place did not heed the warnings. So at this point I don’t know whom to trust. That’s a shame because there are pleanty of honest and inciteful consultants out there but it’s hard to judge who is looking out for their own intersts more than mine.
I had the luck of reading an article the other day of a “Wall Street” person who said “that we are in a Recession now that is as BAD as the Recession from the the 1930’s”. So not just NO but Hell no. I just have a problem trusting most Wall Street Investment people. What is wrong with the picture when a person in investment does not even know the difference between a recession & depression? Has Our Colleges reached the place of learn that there is no longer a proper truth?
Wall Street cannot be trusted to lead or direct the country in financial matters. They are there to make money and the more the merrier. How do you identify an honest person? If honesty does not start at the top and be required of all members of the team then dishonesty occurs. Look at Congress and how badly they have messed up partly causing the current crisis by inadequate control. We must elect able patriots to Congress.
Yes,Wall Street can sometimes anticipate new trends.The time to trust it is when the market generally or individual shares start to move for reasons which nobody seems to know,or is prepared to divulge.That is when there normally is a valid reason for the move – it just has not become apparent yet.
I remember in London where certain bank shares – notably,the Royal Bank of Scotland shares -started to fall,and they began to look very cheap.Of course,they weren’t cheap -there was a valid reason for the fall – but no one was saying what it was.
Trusting Wall Street advice is like trusting a used car dealer’s advice.Are you kidding me? You think they have your best interests at heart? Anyone who thinks that is an infant.
Same goes with all professions. I would think the final delusion is that the medical profession is committed to “first do no harm.” If you believe that, woe to you..
Wall street could not be trusted before and can not be trusted never again. We are the human beings and we will always try to get something for free. New regulations must be created because there will be followers!
I agree with Eric Hedberg who refers to David Korten’s book “Agenda for a New Economy.” We need to re-design our economic system to create localized economies.
Only a few gain from a globalized economy while the majority of world citizens struggle to maintain a roof over their head, or worse.
In the U.S., the average Joe is damned if he invests in the stock markets (timing apparently is everything and my timing is always off) and damned if we don’t (no growth of our life’s savings).
Perhaps the first question is “Who is Wall Street”! With so many people tied to speculative investing and the ability of anyone with a PC to become an investment advisor it is getting harder and harder to define what Wall Street is anymore. In any event, the simple fact it that most of the people we might consider trusted advisors have little or no incentive to tell us not to invest. Why we continue to not see this for what it is just amazes me. I know lots of people who claim to have the best interests of the client/customer at hart but I only trust people who are investing large sums on money into exactly what they are recommending I invest in (Like Dr Weiss). As President Reagan said “trust an verify”. If your advisor has nothing to lose chance are you will be the looser.
One of the best books that I’ve ever read is Charles Mackay’s “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” originally published in 1841 and republished in 1980. It chronicles people’s mad pursuit of a single objective. While it is not confined to money issues, quick rich dreams are a major component of contemporary manias throughout history. For example the Tulip mania of the 1630’s saw the price for single bulbs rise so fast that the Amsterdam and London Stock Exchanges started trading them.
Recently the real estate bubble burst, a bubble that the madness of crowds created. When people do not ask hard questions about intrinsic value, “Wall Street” exploits the greed.
Now, IMHO, we will see “Wall Street’s” exploitation of the USA’s Federal & State and foreign government’s greed from nearly unfettered spending beyond their income.
It is difficult for the average “Joe” on the bottom end of the food chain to make a buck in the stock market. Reason—no matter what “they” say, Wall Street insiders control the ups and down of the market to a great degree trading electronically on large volums at small ticks in price movement—not possible for the little trader waitting for a $2 or $3 run up while the big guys are in and out on a 25 cent price rise ! It is that simple and those that dissagree are usually the stock brokers who, naturally, want to sell you somthing!!!
I love to hear the Wallstreeters talk. However, since their objective is to make money for them and not me, I don’t really trust what they are saying.
I have been investing for almost sixty years and had good luck following Van Eck’s advice, but the last ten years I have been heeding more of your advice.
Yes, wall street is certainly part of the bubble community. Government and existing regulations are designed to promote certain behaviors based on certain political special interests and that’s exactly what happens…hence the housing bubble. Our job is to ride the bubbles as much as possible and get out before they implode. And that is really where the research and gut feelings come in. We have to make our best educated guesses and act in our own self-interest. No one else is going to do a better job than ourself! Weiss information is certainly helpful and I feel the most honest and useful, but even Weiss doesn’t know what the Washington idiots are going to legislate to counter any given situation or interest. And Yes, we are heading into the next trap, whether its the bond market or inflation or some business group that the government will single out for special whipping. The hyper-trading beats us to the punch before we can even hit the key or hear what is really happening anyway.
Hello Martin:
Great idea, your blog. A great education.
I’m a bit surprised at your today’s question, with your history of finance in the U.S.
Explanation: The Federal Reserve money issuers comprises (I think) of 7 members, of which only 2 are known to us. the establishment is made up of private bankers, and control (perhaps) most of the money in the world, and I’ve read (paraphrased) He who owns the gold, controls the world. They have the power to shrink the money supply at any time they see an opportunity to increase their profits. If a Depression is in their best interest, they’ll create one. Our fate is completely within their power.
Martin,
I am confused and concerned about this blog. I have always looked to you and your team for guidance. Now it seems that you’re looking to your readers for answers! I’m not sure I trust these opinions, learned or not, for my financial future! What’s you plan here?
VERY UNLIKELY. GREED FOR THEMSELVES COMES FIRST. YOU ARE LEFT TO FEND FOR YOURSELF—–EVERY MAN FOR HIMSLF——LEARN TO SWIM OR DROWN.
Not when the foxes are still in charge of the chicken coop. So, what’s changed? Ah, what Reagan wrought!
I have never, ever,written this in print before and I never will again, however, I believe that the intelligence of the Weiss bloggers will understand what I am about to say. I discovered in my years as a floor trader in New york and as a speculator that you can identify a turn around in the markets. There are very rare days when the trading activity is exceptionally frentic usually no more than an a half-hour ( not to be confused high volumn ) when the market goes counter it’s long term trend. You can determine this by finding out time and sales reports generated by the exchange and by viewing trading activity. You can do this in real-time for your particular stocks, bonds,commodities and the market in general. With this information who would ever want to be a long term investor trusting in the opinions of experts, brokers, analysts or any other maven with free advise. I have known too any very smart people who gave way to emotions and biased opinions only to make and then loose their fortunes.
Stay smart my friends.
Ron
VERY UNLIKELY. GREED PLAYS A BIG PART IN ALL OF THIS. THE INVSTOR HAS TO CHERRY PICK FOR THE FEW GOOD CHOICES VERSUS THE MANY BAD. LEARN TO SWIM OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES
Why did you think they could ever by trusted? Only Jesus can be trusted.
This is one of those unanswerable questions. I have been a financial planner for 25 years. There are a handful of people, some in academia, some in economic think tanks, which includes economists in practice, and for-profit newsletters. None, in my opinion, has a sufficiently good track record.
As for the Wall Street types, they have an agenda and publish what is self-serving or whatever the company line is.
You either need to find an analyist you can believe, and follow his advice, or develop your own method.
I developed my own. It is a modified form of market timing (bad word), which the industry says doesn’t work. Well, sorry to hear that because mine does work. In development since 1987, it called the market OUT on 10/27/2000 and back IN on 5/30/2003. Then it called OUT on 1/4/2008 and back IN on 7/31/2009. It is still IN, but may go OUT by July, 2010. There were no other signals between 2000 and 2009, except those cited above.
There were 6 other IN-OUT signals between 1987 and 2000, but none were as important as those above in 2000,2003,2008 and 2009.
For the period from 1/2/1987 until June 30,2009, the CROR was 8.13%, and the 15 year CROR for the period ending June 30, 2009 was 10.88%.
Good health to you.
Another Big Wall Street trap…..DEAD AHEAD!!!
OK, Martin. You are clearly a decent sort, and I actually hope you are managing to make a good buck on what you do. You deserve.
Here it is….my answer:
NO. Wall street cannot be trusted. Wall Street IS the C.I.A. And the C.I.A.
is a criminal gang involved in a lot of criminal stuff….not the least of which is
Insider Trading (BIG TIME & FULL TIME) AND OUTSIDER RAPING (BIG TIME & FULL TIME). SO AN INVESTOR’S ONLY HOPE AS AN INDIVIDUAL IS TO SEE THE FUNDAMENTALS RIGHT AND TO HOPEFULLY DETECT THE SHORT TERM MOVES IN
AND OUT OF THESE INSIDERS………
I recommend instead growing turnips, getting drunk and chasing women!
dmorso1@netzero.net
No, I do not think Wall street or analysts or anyone for that matter can tell when “the turn” will come. There are technical indicators but they don’t work….because when the market blows through those indicators (up or down) then everyone goes oh well here we go bullish or bearish but it’s after the fact. Then there is logic and common sense but unfortunately the market pays little attention to that either, if it did we’d have a market somewhere around 7000 right now until this world wide mess gets straightened out….including the Washington D.C. “idiot storm” not what I’d call a “perfect storm”.
NO THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED AND YES THEY WILL LEAD MOST INVESTORS INTO A TRAP.
My comment to Max is…..get off the Bush thing it’s over and that administration didn’t come anywhere near what the current one is doing…….There are planes leaving everyday why not find one and see how perfect it is elsewhere!
Who needs Wall Street? Anyone with a ruler who had ever heard of a trend line, could have drawn that line under the price movement from mid 2006 to October 2007, which would have got them out of the market at around 13,500 for the Dow. The 100 MA would have done much the same.This works in any market for any share, preferably using a ruler and maybe the 50 MA on a daily chart.”Keep it simple stupid” KISS for short !!
in a letter to the editor in my local paper in 74 i advocated that we need to have a worldwide depression for environmental reasons. so anything that sets off a depression is a plus. i just want to invest so i do not get caught in it. apparently you, mr weiss, still think growth is a good thing. you are 30 years oeut of date from my point of view
Sjpeaking as a Chartered Financial Analyst who has run institutional research departments both in Wall Street and San Francisco, I believe Wall Street can NEVER be trusted, not now, not ever. The mere fact that after all this chaos they can’t even achieve the simplest reform, stop the bond-rating agencies from being paid by the companies whose securities they rate, is proof enough. The insider trading scandals (regulation 10b5) have been going on forever and continue to do so. Even my Investment Advisor, a very conservative money-manager, agrees that “The Street” is a bunch of thieves. We laugh about it, but it’s no laughing matter.
BAB
wall street is only interested in their own book
Wall Street is not an individual entity so I can only say there are untrustworthy brokerage firms, companies, and people, however there are also some of those entities
who can be trusted. Unfortunately, there are fewer entities that can be trusted and even those may not be trusted in all situations!
Martin,
I have to say your boys Claus and Larry are not doing a very good job lately calling any dip abuyable one. We say an 8 dollar moce in oil in 2 days and a 70 dollar move in gold. Those are once in a lifetime days for traders if one is prepared and your guys just keep telling us to buy.. The market is down almost 1000 points.. That shoul dhave been hedged..
As long as the regulators are allowing them to gain large quick profits, and bailing them out when the day of reckoning comes,
they’ll do it again and again!
Hi again–
I just read the entry by Steve Edward at 12:43 PM–just before my first entry—Steve, you are right on! It couldn’t have been said better!
sincerely,
Lisa R.
There’s a very simple test. If we can’t believe Washington, academia and the media on Climate Change (and we can’t) then we can’t believe them with regard to their financial prognostications. I have already thrown two newsletters under the bus, including the Utility Forecaster, due to their stated positions on Climate Change, Cap and Trade, etc, etc etc. I’m done with paying for propaganda.
Of course not. Most have no idea and the few that do would never tell us because they profit when we lose.
Mr. Weiss: I cannot speak for all Wall Street analysts but as a group they are myopic. In my mind, that is a fatal failing. Furthermore, they are generally uninformed of the current events that will affect them the most. That is just as serious. It is obvious, at least to me, that we have entered a new paradigm that is erreversable. I would be happy to share some information if you are interested.
Best regards,
Wm. p. Bailey
NO, you can not change the spots on a leopard!
No you can’t trust wall street for anything. They just let you know what helps them. You even have to be careful with the stock market. I had purchased 100 shares of stock after researching it thoroughly. Then along comes a company that wants to buy it, but does not go through regular channels with stockholders and just deals with the owners. The stock I purchased had stable consistent earnings and a good future in the field it was in. I spent a lot of time researching to find it. This company had great potential for the futre and the price offered was too low. The financial company that is offering to buy it, makes a deal with the board to sell for the amount offered, which I and others, believe is way to low for the potential of this company, it’s growth pattern, and the low debt load. In addition, the deal is never offered to the public shareholders whether to accept it or not. After researching the buyer, I found out that the federal government had bailed out the proposed buyer and just bought back their shares from the government. But all of a sudden around the time of this proposal someone from Illinois as been added to the board and the SEC has pushed the buyout of my investment without delay. Some of the stockholders have attorneys determining whether the company violated it’s fudiciary duties, but cannot guarantee whether the deal can be stopped, since it appears that it may be difficult to fight the federal government who is complicent to the deal. So I have to decide to just let the stock go on the cheap. Fortunately I do have a couple of hundred dollars profit, but it is very frustrating to know the market can be fixed by the federal government.
simple answers to simple questions: no, never and Yes.
I’m not defending the so-and-sos, but their main job is to make money on commissions.
They could care less if the market goes up or down, as long as it moves. Although for the public to have hope the market’s long term direction should upward. However, Wall Street has more to gain from uncertainty, since uncertainty is what keeps the markets moving up and down.
You’ve gotta be kidding!
These jokers don’t anticipate any problems: they cause most of the problems! Then they try to convince people that they are the geniuses that can forsee and fix everything. Believe it or not most people actually believe it!
This week (1/Feb-5/Feb) I’ve sold at least half of my holdings (I have zero US stocks) and have bought some inverse ETFs; TSX, S&P500 and others. I’m almost ready for when the s*** hits the fan.
I only have 1 piece of advise – learn to speak Chinese as soon as possible!
They are money managers out to make their money, that is what they do.
No. They work you, not for you. Their job is to hustle you in order to make money for themselves not make you money.
Wall street is now a street lined with financial meth labs. 1,600 Trilliion in known and shadow derivatives waiting to explode. Venerable Warren Buffett called these himself “financial weapons of mass destruction”. Why these meth labs are considered to big to fail is both a statement of moral perversion and a treasonous one.
Main street can do fine without. The nation is on a course of national suicide through unrestrained govt spending at all levels, bloated military, state, city salaries and pensions, a vicious legal system, highest corporate taxes worldwide, etc. The US is now a pinata society where everyone wants something from Big Govt. Presently, the world is entering the K Wave or Kondratieff winter, and all this will be transformed. From the ashes of this debacle, a sound economy will emerge and many idiotic Keynesian ideas will be laid to rest for awhile. Unfortunately, approx 17 years of pain are ahead. I recommend a cocktail of Vodka, Valium and Malox as an antidote. Ha Ha.!
Absoletely not. That is how they stay in business by separating you from your money…and they even get our government to give them your money when you are not willing to do so to further undermine your investments like right now, at the present time.
Trust Wall Street – NO WAY – there’s too many unknowns to put any trust in operations of man. There is only God to truly put your trust.
Reserve currencies typically last 100 yrs. 1450-1530 Portuguese (80), 1530 to 1640 Spain (110) ,1640 -1720 Dutch (80), 1720 -1815 French (95),1815-1920 British (105),
1920-2010 USA 90 yrs. Endgame for the USA :(
Kondratieff Cycle Endgame. (Approx 70 year cycles)
1800 French Revolution, Assignat Hyperinflation, Napoleon autocrat
1870 End of Civil War 1860 , 1st US Depression1870 Black Friday.
1929 2nd Depression Worldwide. Hyperdeflation and then hyperinflation France
and Germany, Rise of Fascism
2009: 3rd Depression Worldwide. Deflation followed by Hyperinflation. Endgame :(
Add Peak Oil, Peak Water, Ageing of the US and World (Harry Dent), and massive Head and Shoulder patterns in all world bourses/stock markets on monthly charts ( Bob McHugh) , I need a drink!
The entire theory of economics and the markets moving up and down is not known by the investing public and the advisors, banks, government and treasuries of the world. It is as true today as it was when camel caravans traversed the deserts and lands from eastern Europe to The Great Wall of China. Fundamentalism and technical indicators are tools we have devised to try to track these movements. We are always behind the curve or trof. There is another element not known or accepted by the greedy players. Until you find it you will not be able to predict. I have it.
Forgot to mention that democracies typically last 200 yrs.
1776 to 2010: 234 yrs. Endgame for US democracy.
“Democracy is temporary in nature and cannot exist as a permanent form of govt. A democracy will contine to exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury” Trivia: Which president said this?
“Can you EVER trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns? If so, when? Are they now leading investors into a brand NEW trap?”
No in the majority of cases, “Wall Street” refers to registered exchange members, bucketshops and investment “advisors” of all kinds.
If they advise you to place a stop loss order you can usually trust them, if they don’t you can’t trust them, simple.
The only thing that you can control in the market is your risk, establish it and stick to it then it does not matter which way the market goes because you will be out when it turns against you.
Read the last paragraph on page 148 of “45 Years in Wall Street”, any other association is folly.
You can’t blame anyone except yourself if you follow advice from “Wall Street” and it goes wrong.
We are here because we have found a very good advisor in Martin who makes us look at what is happening outside of our own closed minds.
there were warnings from many sources, but the greed of investing overcame rational thought process of every type of investor including myself.
The mood of the investors today is one of hate and mistrust, gained from reading their comments alone. The other characteristic is wildly bullish and greedy by buying into the highs and now selling into the lows. This is the true measure that a bottom is in place and we are close to confirming it with a higher low near 50% of the last March to February rally. Once that hits the rally will be on and the economists of wall street will be writing confusion again. Learn the rules of the game or don’t play with the big boys.
No, I don’t trust Wall St. to let us know. As Reagan said, “trust but verify”. But how? The variables to consider in any change or trend seem increasingly complex. Even honest, experienced, smart folks like your Team is challenged. I read a lot, keep my eyes on the market, world events, apparent trends but no sense of sound footing, even long term. I like and am impressed with you and your Team members but you seem to struggle too. Maybe everybody is right, but when? Even someone as smart as Claus Vogt has some misses. Perhaps my expectations need adjusting.Investing is, after all, risky. Thanks for your efforts.
No, they cannot be trusted. PERIOD. Today was a wild roller-coaster ride with the markets off over 250 at one point. What is going on? Must we stay glued to our computers in order to not lose our shirts again?? I think it must be timne to get out of the market all together and stick with cash and gold/silver. No loss there.
What do you think? Respect your advice greatly!!
Nancy
I WILL NEVER TRUST WALL STREET AGAIN.
Our former wealth manager used us like whores. We tried to get justice through the DOJ in two states, numerous securities lawyers, regulators, etc. but found out that they are ALL worthless/toothless and collaborating with the ‘enemy’. They basically give these lying, thieving bastards (brokers, wealth managers) a license to rob you blind and GET AWAY WITH IT.
The only real justice would be to hire a mercenary to ‘fix him’. Sometimes it sounds tempting, but I don’t want to rot in jail why my filthy ex wealth advisor suns in some sunny location with MY money. I can only hope he angers a member of the mafia and I get to read about his broken bleeding body washing up on some N.J. beach. I would celebrate that day….
Wall Street is the biggest ponzi machine on the planet. If you get an inheritance, DON’T let anyone else manage it for you. Put it in short term treasury bills, CD’s or in a coffee can in your backyard. At least you will sleep at night knowing nobody is to blame but you if anything happens to it.
WALL STREET CNA NOT BE TRUSTED AND SHOULD BE MADE PAY BACK ALL THE MONEY THEY LOST FOR PEOPLE,MOST BEING THEIR LIFE SAVING INVESTED FOR RETIREMENT.
EVERY BODY THAT’S BEEN IN WASHINGTON OVER EIGHT YEARS SHOULD BE VOTED OUT,NEED SOME NEW FAST THINKING MINDS UP THERE.
NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO STAY ANY LONGER THAN THE PRESIDENT IN OFFICE.
THEY SEEM TO THINK THEY HAVE LIFE TIME JOBS GETTING RICH AND DOING LITTLE ARE NOTHING FOR THE PEOPLE THAT SENT THEM THERE. TAKING MONEY FORM LOBBYIST, AND FIGHTING EACH OTHER SPENDING TAXPAYERS MONEY PARTY FIGHTING.
Money, infuence, politics, and corruption all go hand-in-hand once the amount of money becomes significant. It appears that, despite all of the accounting rules and standards, that no one in government really knows where the money is, where it has gone, and who got it. That would appear to be the official position at this time.
We need a total change in both branches of Congress and the White House to launch an accounting. It would be best of those who have been there and benefited from it are gone as they do not consider themselves either: corrupt, incompetent, or just plain unconcerned.
In order to regain our trust, we need to see things done in our best interests, not in the interests of an international figment of imagination. We do not need nor want to be popular with other countries and we do not want to be part of a “grandose scheme” of international progressively corrupt international efforts such as the Oil For Food program that the United Nations used to skim money from. I do think that some of our leaders want to be the head of a World Order and guide all of us one way or the other. However, if they every want to see the common citizen ever trust the financial, legal, or political systems again: THEN ACT IN OUR BEST INTEREST AND CUT EXPENSES.
On the legal side, we need to have the legal system evaluated by outside parties. Lawyers are not capable of enforcing the rules they have set as their standards. The legal system is a joke.
We need an immediate 30% cut across the board in everything!
To be fair to countries who have our debt and are complaining, we need to have the Commerce Department gradually adjust internationl trade to be in a balance. Perhaps we should start with an annual adjustment downward of 10%, that way it can be gradually. If need be, we can shift that trade to other countries who work with us to maintain a reasonable balance of trade.
I feel sorry for all those countries with oil that sell it to us for dollars. They just have too many dollars and we should also have the Commerce Department negotiate with those oil exporting countries so that we reduce our oil imports by 10% each year. That way we can be fair to them, adjust our own energy sources, and reduce those nasty, pesky dollars that they have too many of. In five years we will have cut our imports of oil by 50% and be on our way to self-sufficiency.
Wall Street is as trustworthy as our government. Consider how many ex-Wall Street people are/have been in government positions. Another point, it’s one thing to know something, another to proclaim it. Some people need to learn that trust is not easily earned, but easily lost, and very difficult to restore.
without question before now and forever – never can this group of criminal frauds be ever trusted
I imagine there will always be some money made and political advantage obtained through the ignorance of others. I like to believe its moor opportunism than a willful trap but there may not be much difference.
One recognized view of societies construct says it’s in a government’s advantage to keep its people in some debt (at manageable not disastrous levels) e.g. collage fees, credit cards, mortgages. And to have a fair proportion of people a bit disillusioned with life / stuck in a lower class, struggling financially, feeling the limitations of there circumstances. This creates a malleable, compliant work force and a population that are relatively easy to lead, as there generally treding water and just hoping for the best.
Although this fits well with the implications of your question I was pleased to hear the American people are beginning to stand up for them selvs and object to the government’s financial direction.
Most of the news is rationalizing for what has happened; an explanation of “why” whether than what’s to come. One sure can’t count on getting unbiased information these days! Most all of them are just damn liars or cheats!
Its is human to predict future trends based on trends and signs. We were the same since the first humanoid looked at the stars and determined his future was influenced by them. With my limited experience I feel that we lived from one bubble to the next for the last century. Wall Street can be trusted till we find a better tool. God bless us all.
Hi Martin, Unlike Wall street, Trust is Earned by Command ; NOT Demand & we have Not had alot of Commamders ;Lately. I just returned from Or. from My Mom Marika’s 73 B-day. Enjoyed the Or. rose garden where she will recieve a Bronze plaque in the shaksperian Gerden this year as the Grand Dam Current reing President of the Oldest Rose scoiety in the U.s. I regret that I can’t be in Fl. however I am there in sprit. Bill & dudestein will be home @ 3;am from Ca. they beat the storm. I went to Or museum of history science yesterday morning.Omsi is 219,000 sq ft of brain powered fun & saw a Under the Sea movie which latested about an hour at the OMNIMAX; an left enriched with all of my 2.5 days of Nonstop with Mom. God bless you & yours.
Dr. Weiss:
I will issue a very emphatic “NO”, to that question-Wall St. can not be trusted and that means the people that make their living their as well.
As a New Yorker, I am speaking from direct experience, having several family members working in Senior Level positions at the major investment banks for the past 30 years, I have witnessed first hand the change of attitude that Wall St. gives birth to!
Disrespect, Greed, Arrogance, Lies are the end products that my relatives have given way to. So much so, that when they are more concerned with what type of watch, suit, shoes you are wearing, then it is blatantly obvious, things have run amuk!!
For the record, it pains me to admit, it has been several years now that I do not associate with those relatives because of who they have become-Gordon Gecko was wrong, “Greed is not good”, all we need to do is look at the carnage that surrounds us all, not just financially but emotionally as well!!
Mike
Can Wall Street ever be trusted……???????? Uh….are there ANY public companies in the industrial sector that still manufacture guillotines….???? If found out, care to see a price breakout with 100,000x the normal trading volume the following day?
Suffice to say, they had better be thanking the devil day and night that I have no ambitions for orchestrating a coup–at least not at the present time. In short, the events that would have gone down would have made the French revolution look like a girl scout arts and crafts festival. What these clowns, Washington, the federal reserve and the majority of corporate America, in concert, had done to this country is nothing short of treason. In their economic plunder of this country, they have put OUR national security at risk.
After the collapse, they have played the American public for a bunch of patsies and suckers, in that they took the bailout money and paid themselves bonuses at a time when main street is are struggling to keep clothes on their backs, food on their tables, a roof over their heads, etc…. Is that a cold slap in the face or what? And bonuses…??? For what? Running this country and its economy into the ground? And please don’t give me the “keeping the best and the brightest” BS because it was these best and brightest that got us in this economic nightmare in the first place.
I was rabidly against ANY kind of bailout, period. There’s an old saying, “What ever you throw money at, you will only get more of.” Rest assured when the next crisis rears up, they will come back with their grubby little hands out. Sadly, the intellectually crippled, American taxpayer will throw even more money at these cons at the next go around.
Be it known, there will NEVER be a change in these unscrupulous dirt bags nor will they ever be properly disposed of by law and due process. Which brings us back to the first paragraph…are there any companies in the industrial sector….?
The short answer is a no. I havent listened to analyist for over 10 years, simply b/c they are as much of the game as the rest, and they are rolled out to perform their part to help move a stock or sector. Analyist can better be used as a contrian indicator.
Today on the radio I heard one fund manager today think the Market hit a Short Term bottom. Personally I think we get a bounce from here, but will not last, I need to see LT technicals head lower, most LT indicators are still overbought, and I would like to see the 200 DMA get tested before considering exposing capital to risk.
Hi Martin, i recently wrote an article on this..A snapshot :
“Of all the history of the functioning of free markets, most of the investors and analysts were extremely bullish or bearish just before the market peaked or bottomed out, respectively. But, what has it got to do with the functioning of markets.? Contrarian rule is the conclusion, which basically calls for bear bets when most of investors are bullish and bull bets when most of them are bearish. History is evident to support this. In Jan 08, when nobody in the world could think of anything other than a bullish call, markets across the globe tanked big time. A reverse scenario occured in Mar 09 when everybody was extremely bearish, especially after seeing 2008″
Having worked for the largest of the Wall Street firms for several years, I can tell you this: The vast majority of investors do NOT want to hear about out-of-favor, potentially profitable investments. Whether it be the bond market, stock market, or even CDs, if it’s been doing well for some time they don’t want to miss the party. If it’s been doing poorly for some time yet is about to turn around, they want nothing to do with it. Most will not even consider doing the prudent thing and diversifying out of a concentrated stock or stock option holding until the stock is down 50%, and even then they want to wait until it hits its former high point before they’ll sell it. It’s completely ridiculous how the “sheep” mentality is ingrained in 99% of all humans and is exactly why there will always be great opportunities for the other 1%. Wall Street is a business and they pitch what sells and they also don’t have a crystal ball.
I don’t think Wall Street practitioners are inherently culprits or liars. Nonetheless, they are ill- adept at avoidance of qualifying for membership in the Slow-learner’s club. Someone once
said: if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?
These people intrinsicly have their own personal agendas taking frontal brain space. Even so,
some certainly have integrity and some are actually good in their craft.
Hap
If we trust anything having to do with Govt. as it stands today we are likely to find only disapointment. A govt that tells us one thing and does the opposite is showing us not to trust. A govt that allows paid in full retirement insurances to be withheld by companies men worked for for 20 and 20+ years has shirked it’s duties and will shirk other duties just as quickly.
Perhaps we have an unrealistic expectation of Wall St. After all it is the investors, traders and speculators that govern every outcome and can profit in both rising and falling markets.
When did your broker/advisor last recommend that you sell anything? and why would you place any trust in his or her judgement?
Sure, we all knew we were in a bear market rally which slowly sucked in a growing band of punters who became increasingly fearful of missing out. But when all was said and done the market always becomes bearish at some point.
As so often happens, the herd failed to notice anything unusual until after the event so the short side wins again.
Maybe we became a little too complacent and failed to see the writing on the Wall St.
Trust Wall St? Why ever would you.
It’s like inflation and deflation. Too much money chasing something of value followed by too little money to support that valuation.
There. Not one mention of God, the war or the economy.
Michael
The 1st and foremost for our govenment is to impose high tariffs on all imports from abroad to get our industry running again, especially, for those countries set unfair currency trade practices. Limiting outsousing sevice jobs to abroad except the service jobs for overseas. No to trust the Wall Street, they can issue more electronic shares put on the market sold at market price by diluting shares to pay back to the government. They can pump the share prices without so called good fundamental because they have almost unlimit cash from taxpayers. The FDIC can take a big regional bank and give to the ‘too big to fail’ bank with a tiny price by forfeiting shareholder’s right. Congress should impose rules to limit those big banks doing the so called proprietory tradings using FDIC insured money. Many employment statistics were distorted because the stimulus plans and unaccounted college graduates ceased to look for jobs. The stimulus plans are not going to last. The tariffs for import products are necessary step to level playing field to revitalize our industrial base to our country and jobs. Cuurently, the cash is king.
Sure you can trust Wallstreet types when it comes to whose interest comes first.
But not all are the same: Some (most) are about selling and are really not too interested in what their firm’s analists tell them or they are simply not quite intelligent enough to understand it. In addition the analist’s task is really to “support” sales.
Then there are a lot struggling to fill their sales quota and really have no time to study the market in order to make you money.
I am sure that if I had access to more technical data such as : investor sentiment data, M-2 money supply , money flows, overbought/oversold data, Lei, etc. I would do a lot better than I do now.
The most trustworthy people are those that sell their knowledge and insight to me, plain and simple, but I have had newsletters before, but never reached the results the writers claimed to produce.
I have high hopes that Martin and his coworkers, not only have the knowledge/insights themselves, but also teach me in the process.
IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL IF MARTIN’S STAFF WOULD REGULARLY SEND US A LIST OF TECHNICAL DATA , SUCH AS I MENTIONED ABOVE OR WHATEVER THEY THINK IS IMPORTANT. BUT ALWAYS INCLUDE THE SAME DATA, SO THAT THE READERS CAN SEE A TREND.
I have had newsletters that would tell you the sentiment data once, but not again until next year or after the start of a bearmarket! Pretty useless!
Yes, they already have. Stockmarket dove under ten thousand today, and this is probably just the beginning.
As one family who never sells and might make a purchase as often as one per year, we am not swayed by the noises from TV and internet on what to buy/sell!
So far we are well off in retirement with a significant portfolio and secure retirement pensions. For these reasons we can afford to ignore the noises from Wall Street.
The same can’t be said for our elected Congress. And the increased government debt load is largely financed by off shore bond sales.
We live on less than the above pensions with the excess put into the pot with dividend earnings for the next purchase.
My basic thought is that the education system has failed to prepare about half the population to live within their income and save something beyond the SS tax!
i have been reading all of these blogs your disallusion is very much understood. what i see here is very much a message of “i am a victim of the system” . there is a saying that “knowledge is power”. somewhere you have to stop being a victim. the process of educating yourself will give you an advantage because if you understand how the elitist system works you can understand that they are very limited as to their resources. to quote ron paul “the federeal reserve bank is neither federal ( privately owned) nor reserved (meaning that they have have no reserves) it is all fiat currency. please google arron russo freedom to fascism. zeitgeist the movie part 3. individualism vs collectivism.
i AM SORRY BUT I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS ANY NEWS ABOUT THIS. AFTER THAT ALGORITHMIC PROGRAM WAS STOLEN AND OR BORROWED FROM GOLDMAN SACKS (SOMETIME IN 2008) BY A FIRED EMPLOYEE (WHO WAS LEAVING FOR ANOTHER BROKERAGE JOB) WHY WOULD ANYONE INVEST IN THE STOCK MARKET? GS SAID IT WOULD BE VERY VOLOTILE IF IT WERE USED. WE NEVER HEARD ABOUT THIS AGAIN.
everyone knows the dollar and federal reserve notes, are two separate things, totally,. the f.r.n. is simply witchcraft… torah states; unjust weights and measures are to the one true G-D…, an abomination, no less. the federal reserve act is unconstitutional… only congress can regulate the coin and credit and cannot delegate its’ authority to some other entity, or, persons…we can print u.s. notes into circulation interest free. same with social security, just print the checks and currency. the reciepients can be vetted via local government bodies.. the local populace will ensure only so many get a check, even if out of jealousy, or envy,,, congress could if it wanted, command a sales tax on all wires, computer trades commodities contracts etc… this would slow down the sheer velocity on nonsensical trading; whereupon wall street is making money by sheer volume of trades clearing just pennies per dollar and less per trading transaction….
Dear Martin:
No, you can not trust the banksters of Wall Street, as they have thrown morals and scruples out the window long ago in pursuit of the Almightly Dollar. The day will come when ALL paper instruments become worthless and anyone who looks for security in money wealth will be sadly disappointed. When men are stripped of money, only then will they judge each other rightly–on who they are, not what they own.
It’s time to learn gardening if you don’t already practice the art.
It may be the only way to a good healthy meal.
Good luck! Character equals destiny!
New Investor: Wall street can not be trusted, I believe wall street knows what is coming down before it is released via the news. So how do we, the average joe investor should avoid strong market down turns. Please correct me if I’m wrong, there is no sure fire way, what we do is play the odds /averages. For example: using stream linning with red & green signals, if you have diferent stocks representing several sectors and they all turn red, SELL /the market is telling you to sell. later on you’ll find out via the news what went down.
I’m kind of disturbed by the fact that we did not look like the long range implications of our investment. I believe that encouraging investing in the broken window type of economy is not good for our return, nor are future.
In most cases I would trust Wall Street rather than our government. In fact, Wall Street is ruled by our government and the government creates the music in which Wall Street dances. Most of us in investment would rather take our chances on trying to ascertain the viability of the enterprise rather than just the whims of government.
IMHO, anyone who would do what they did in 2008 would do pretty much anything to line their pockets with bonuses and keep the game going with the money from taxpayers and the honest investor. So, why not? There is absolutely no downside for them. The game goes on, they win. The game crashes, and along with it the economy of every economy on Earth, they win. Instead of going down with everyone else, their politicians scare the bejeebers out of everyone and they get bailed out They spend $1m to buy a president and get $700 billion payout. Not bad.
Read the book “LICENSE TO STEAL: THE SECRET WORLD OF WALL STREET AND THE SYSTEMATIC PLUNDERING OF THE AMERICAN INVESTOR”, by an anonymous author. A true story. Several Wall Street stockbrokers break the financial industry’s code of silence. They tell the story of how rogue stockbrokers (and their firms) bilk investors by pitching overvalued initial public offerings (IPOs), charge bogus commissions, and manipulate and mislead clientele.
Wall Street couldn’t care less about the average investor, except as a source of money to satisfy their personal and corporate greed and lust for money. Wall Street will do anything to make money. Anything, including selling their souls to satan. If clients just happen to benefit in the process, fine. If not, “too bad”. In other words they couldn’t care less. The plain truth of the matter is that I don’t trust them as far as I can throw the Empire State Building. They are NOT to be trusted at all, period. End of story.
you recommended AENY.. its being artificially hiked up and Not a credible stock…
see write up./. on google search.. beware
So Marty,
“Wall Street”…Do you mean brokers, broker/dealer CEOs, analysts, mutual fund managers, hedge-fund managers, bond traders, for-ex traders, commodities traders, exchange personell, operations people, …other market participants?
Do you mean to tell me there’s a conflict of interest between buyers and sellers in the world? Gee, when did that happen? And it looks like yours is the one true holy and apostolic savior of shrewd investors everywhere, sent from above with a pure confluence, rather than a conflict of interest.
Sorry for the sarcastic rant…your team’s output is actually quite excellent in my view. I suspect the problem most investors wrestle with today is the seemingly hopeless situation our failed monetary apparatus has foisted upon us. The Federal Reserve is the largest and most powerful counterfeit money printing operation in the world, and most members of the Congress arn’t even certain what the Fed does. The various puppets who have occupied the Executive Branch since 1913 have no interest in facing or changing how the Fed operates, and at best, the judicial system seems content to rubber-stamp every socialist agenda it addresses. So we have a corrupt and fairly sinister wealth confiscation system in place, and for about 38 years, we’ve had our heads so deep in our shopping bags no one seems to care…or even know.
Until we can figure out a way to stop splashing around in this cess-pool of fiat money, free men ( and women ) need your expert commentary. Keep up the great work !!!
WB Dredge
The answer is not important. Why? Because, the Club of Rome and the Committee of 300.That’s why!
My belief is that “someone” is keeping the markets from imploding. It is clear
that another implosion should have by now already occurred. Keeping the markets
more or less stationary creates a false sence of security and with it soverign security. Unfortunately, I don’t think this can last forever and many will be swept away economiclly when the next downturn inevitably comes…Personally, I am in cash and paying down the mortgage as
fast as I can. Sans an economic/political revolution we are hoping to ride out
the storm by being in cash and debt free..only wish I had houses outside of America at this point. Hold on to your horses….all hell is going to break loose.
Their track record alone shows they can not be trusted!
Hello everyone: I am new to investing in the market and could use all the advice anyone has to offer about investing in the market. Thanks Don
Why should we trust Wall Street when we can’t even trust our neighbors or the place where we buy our groceries. Trust starts in Washington DC, and will have to be restored in Washington DC if we ever are to get out of this mess.
I don’t think anyone will read this but here goes…
Hindsight like history are always correct but predictions, future movement contingent on certain events to occur do not follow the same rules (who would have ever thought of borrowing Trillions of dollars and not created one job….hhummmm) I am sure some analyst thought of job creation especially when they cut the check in Washington.
Wall Street runs in herds, they all are taught the same thing (fundamentals) at the same schools, same instructors, go to the same clubs, hang out together and guess what buy and sell the same instruments. So, how could you expect to get different advise and a different outcome
Guess who goes for the ride…Americans, albeit some try to do it on there own, some rely on brokers/agents and other trust professionals. But the moment the American public try’s to do something that is not a traditional product and can make a little money the same professionals that are in the best interest of the public are told not to pursue it because it’s too risky and I have something better.
Fundamentals are required but do not necessarily work, remember when it was written and what time in history it was developed. Can anyone remember when options moved point for point, or when Carter had CD’s at 15% or better…same fundamentals, do you think it will happen now from an analyst or technical stand point.
But the American public can’t spend time reading charts or doing technical analysis the average American is to busy trying to keep a job, support a family, keeping medical insurance and let us not forget PAY TAXES and the Best Wall Street can say is hold on to your position because the market will come back. Meanwhile, let me pay those bonuses based on past fundamentals of history.
Hows this ….will the fundamentals of Wall Street keep the American public in Wall Street aka the market, maybe Wall Street should study the fundamentals of human nature “an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth” and see how fast you can make your own fundamental correction. ( I bet you would see a whole lot of missing teeth. )
Trusting Wall Street is like trusting a politician, what is in the best interest of the public, I don’t ever remember voting to increase a politician salary. Believing Wall Street is like a magic show, now you see it now you don’t Reading fundamentals is required reading (ie the earth is flat) and the whole world believed it…what happened to the guy who said I don’t believe it, I think it’s round…hhuummm
So, the American public gets a wake up call and what has changed on Wall Street, what has changed in banking, let me share what has changed you have less money and can’t get to it.
I hope I didn’t bore anyone and good luck to you
r
Wall-street is one of the agents of the elite to take money from investors.
The simple answer is NO!
Look at the mess we have on Wall Street. Can you please explain to me why companies that have lost customers ALOT of money are being paid very large bonuses?
Thank you.
After digesting all of the above responses, lets take a step back, the solution is simple, make all financial /mutual fund managers/ wall street money managers ‘ compensation performance based……they make a percentage of money they make for their clients….they lose money for their ckients, it comes out of THEIR pockets….Yeah, Right !
I really enjoy all your writings. But being an amateur in this field, I feel lost around the fringe of the investing world. Things like; who are included in the words: “Wall Street”. A little help in this area would help keep me on track.
Thanks for all you do, and God Bless you as you keep us informed.
Steve
I scanned down the first dozen comments or so and they all state, in different words, that WS is not trustworthy. The IB houses exist and are structured to make profits for themselves (corporately and personally). They have succeeded in doing that and the success has been at the expense of the consumers and economies in many countries. It might be naive to think “trust” plays any role. WS’ job is to sell you something and make a profit doing that. The issue should better be framed as “have they performed criminal acts”. Iceland believes they have. Personally I think WS should be used for only 1 purpose – take you public (they have the infrastructure to do it). Otherwise, believe NOTHING they say because (a) THEY DO NOT KNOW (b) THEIR ONLY PURPOSE IS TO MAKE PROFITS! Remember ‘ if your broker is so smart, why are they still working’?
Wallstreet is one of the agents of the Elite to take money from investors and taxpayers. They work in their best interest to take money out the financial systems and distribute it among themselves. A recent example is what Goldman Sachs and JPM orchestrated through the crooks in Washington: Full payment of AIG losses, made a chartered bank long enough to be able to get billions of dollars in a TARP money loan, and given access to the Fed discount window.This money was used to accumulate stocks, commodities at assets in late 2008 at bargain prices when everyone was selling due to the panic that was in fact caused by the financial mess that they caused in 2007. Then they orchestrated a bear rally then when the timing was right for Wallstreet, they dumped these assets to people who were convinced prices of stocks and commodities were going higher. Now they are likely getting short again, waiting below to cover their short positions and re accumulate these same assets at bargain prices once again. While most of the country is suffering in a sever recession, they use their deceptive practices to make billions of dollars, and get taxpayers to pay for it.
Why would anyone trust someone that deceives people to obtain money in this devious fashion?
Peter
hi martin, why would one trust wall street? never ever considered trusting those people. maybe i didn’t understand the question.
bill
NO, wallstreet and the media cannot be trusted, lets hope this crash is not too bad
Martin, Good question! I was a retirement/financial planner for 39 years and I never ceased to be amazed at the ineptitude of ” Wall St ” at delivering any consistantly useful advice as to what to buy/sell or when to do it. It was and is today all about order flow and creating more and more complex and expensive “products. All you have to do is look at the creation of new funds and ETFs. The timing is awful! The amazing thing is that the “public” continues to buy them. It is very difficult to find good direction and ideas amongst the flood of what passes for advice today. Keep up the good work. Albert Townsend
Wall Street has been lobbying congress to remove regulations on the corporate and financial sector for the last forty years, everything FDR put in place to level the playing field. That is why we are in this mess now. On top this the Supreme Court just made it legal for Wall Street to buy the finest congress available. Until those regulations are back in play I wouldn’t trust anything about Wall Street or Washington.
NO YOU CAN’T. YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR OWN JUDGMENT.
Out of all the responses,John Dougan seems to be the only one that got it right. You can never trust Wall Street until we change our monetary system to honest hard money,
For those that remember history, the designer of the Federal Reserve System (Paul Warburg} said in 1910 “We need an elastic money system so we can invest in Trade Acceptances”. Thus today money is created out of other peoples debts rather than savings. (Trade Acceptances were roughly equivalent to todays Letters of Credit that are used in International Trade aggreements).
Easy Money drives greed to excess and even more so when you have a Central Bank in collaboration with Central Government that can declare favored organizations as too big to fail.
We have not operated in a true capitalist environment since 1933.
Hard money (commodity backed) would be self regulating and we would not need to have so many restrictive (vulgar) laws .
No Martin, no, no, and no. I have worked in commodity brokerages, even one that charged 29% on the way in and the way out, and you could explain it away by saying either the option would take off or it wouldn’t, and if it took off the combined 48% would not make any diffeence, they would still make a fortune. It was true, a friend psychically put his people into coffee, orange juice, and sugar one year when they all uncharacteristically took off and went through the roof through natural disasters. The clients cleaned up. But in general, brokers are predatory, cannibalistic sociopaths who give not a hoot what happens to their clients, and I have seen this in the stock option, commodity option, and forex businesses. One broker even had a client who had been loosing money with him for 25 years- some of them like it, some have their own reasons.
But Wall Street as an entity is connected to the big Banks and they are connected to the Banks of the Federal Reserve and their whole purpose is to bleed America dry and slowly but surely rob the U.S. of all it’s wealth and put it in the hands of the richest Americans. They are there to take your money, not make you money. If they happen to hit for you, they are not sad, but that is not their purpose. Their purpose is to drag you into an addictive cycle of gambling and loosing. It is obscene, and if this had all been going on in Weimar Germany………and will this give rise to another demagogue? Time will tell, it almost seems that one is needed. Very sad.
DSB
The fact that the world’s richest man has zero interest in the prognostications of Wall Street, particularly in reference to timing, tells you everything you need to know. Good companies are good in good times and bad; bad companies are flashes in the pan, and unfortunately there is absolutely no way to know when that will be. The Wall Street crowd is rich not because they are good at predicting the future but because they are good at convincing others they are. If they truly were good at it they wouldn’t be wasting their time as high-priced salesmen. The only financial types worth the time of day are the real students of finance history and they are rare as hens teeth. While I read widely in the financial press, Weiss is virtually the only information source I follow closely.
I will never trust wall street again. I know that they’re directly responsible for the economic
and housing mess that we are now in.
It’s obvious that they set investments traps for their convenience, with no regards for the people who will get hurt.
The Government does not have any control over wall street, and it doesn’t seem that they care.
Wall St. can always be trusted to do what is in their own interest, they have a LOT of help, in doing so.
Look at all the ex- Street people in top positions in government! ( Paulson, case in point), looking out for all of their buds!! Handing out money two handed, wheres all the records of where the money went?
Another taxpayer screwing!!!
IT CONTINUES!!
No, Wall Street , as well as most of the major international banking players, can not be trusted as they have an incurable conflict of interest with a major portion their own customers . However the problem does not stop there : the only way Wall Street -and their international peers- can keep on acting as they do derives from the support they get from politicians and academics . Politicians blame the banking system but forget to make laws that put the brake on certain behaviours . Academics create funny theories , such as the Efficient Market Hypotesis which happen to be particularly profitable to Wall Street Banks .
NEVER. Neither Wall Street nor any other similar congregation elsewhere in the world.
No, you can’t trust Walll Street pundits/experts to know or tell anyone in advance before a crisis is about to happen. Schwab certainly didn’t forewarn me, and I’m one of their “private clients”.
Could there be another “trap”. Of course there could.
Good afternoon Dr Weiss, sorry to be so late getting back… What I do
with those “carved in Stone” fundamentals is I just delete them!!!
At one time I was naive enough to believe that fundamentals ie profits
etc was what moved the markets… If you look at the decline in ‘74-
75, what was it, about 47% down, you will notice the profits were up
every quarter. I’ve checked a great number of issues and find that
profit announcements only has very brief effects on prices most of
the time !!! That goes for all the other “cast in stone” Fundamentals…
I have been studying R.N. Elliott’s (another member of Pres’ Hoovers
Regime) and I get several products from our ole’ friend Bob Prechter…
I’ve read most of his books… I notice that you wrote a foreword in
one, I think it was TOP OF THE WAVE?
Well, I got up yesterday morning and saw that the futures were up
and I bought the SDS again and added 200 SRS… I got caught not
paying attention and let a few hundred slip away by the close last
night but I expect they will be back up Monday… I’m not afraid of
being short stocks,gold, oil or any commodities for the near term !!!
Just have to watch for corrections along the way…
What most don’t understand is that we have been in a bear market
since 2000, the markets have never exceeded their ‘99 high in real
money (gold) terms… As a matter of fact we haven’t exceeded the
1966 high in gold terms !!! This Bear will be around for a long while !!!
Jan’11 we started Primary Wave 3 down and Ralph Elliott said wave
is a sight to behold either up or down,we’ll see !!! The BRIC,PIGS, EURO
all others will be right behind or maybe in front of US!!!
Okay, thats enough jabber-jabber for now !!!
Good look and may God be with us
Dr Rich
Financial houses are by definition activists and their livelihood depends on your
buying and selling regardless of the climate. They couldn’t survive if you waited for
the market to come to you for purchases. …and they don’t want you selling out for any reason and putting money somewhere else.They all have the same story … buy good stocks and let them do the adjusting over time and you will win.There is not time for getting out and “mising the boat>
law
Couldn’t find fault in the Wall Street warning…
Truly, it’s better to be cynical, than be sorry!
Sorry to the Orlando miss the Orlando meeting. I will be out of town.
TA
i would like to talk to martin d. weiss p.h.d. sir from what i read from you you are a guru and you do your homework very well..on making the right movies on buying stocks and everything you buy..you have a great bating average..on making money…your dad brought you into the business..when you were young.and taught you well.sir i was a master transmission rebuilder most of my life..but i can not work no more..do to bad back problems..and iv had a heartatak also..i am into a lot of sight that tell you that they will make you big money..ha-ha..i need a man like you to help me make some big money..sir i dont have a lot of money..and if i was into the business for 40years like you..id have it made.but i was a master transmissoin rebuilder most of my life..iv been in the business for 40 years now..and i cant not work no more..and i want to make some good money..and i need a man like you with values and morals and honor.you are a little priceie..but you care about your customers.thats very important.in all businesses..please i want you to email and tell me what you think on what i said and what to do sir..i need a special man like you to help me ..i feel that you are a man with honor and values..thats very important..as i say you as good as your word.thats all..please i would like you to email me if you can on monday morning..sir i know that you are a very important man…bless you sir..and thanks for everything..rick pasek
Martin D. Weiss:
I have NEVER done this before.
That said I would like to make a few comments:
First of all, I cannot begin to express how satisfied I am with my subscription to Weiss. You were correct when you said that I will receive more that I thought. I look forward to reading my MoneyandMarkets, and of course, The Weiss Elite.
1) I believe Wall Street moves on “moment-to-moment” educated guesses and not necessarily on longer term trends. I make this assumption based on another assumption that the term “Wall Street” means the major movers and shakers, not the retail investor.
2) I also believe the individual investor reacts too late and for (again) the wrong reasons;
(a) Their broker recommends a certain stock (to the benefit of the broker)
(b) Mis-guided hear-say (from friends or “insider information”)
(c) Incorrect research which directs them to incorrect picks
3) Younger investors are not thinking “long term”. They have not yet had the time or opportunity to experience business cycles. Older investors become comfortable in their picks, they become hesitant to venture into opportunities they have not previously been involved in. And, they realize that time is no longer on their side.
So, can we rely on Wall Street. Absolutely!
I seriously doubt they will ever change.
Consistency is a very powerful tool, and one that I am sure you capitalize on.
Thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your organization.
PS- Is there a list of current holdings ??
Craig Dennis
- Insider information is used and abused by both wall st, other exchanges round the world and their regulators
- Banks and financial institutions frequently use our money contrary to regulations exploiting us with our own cash making transfers to their and their friends advantage and to their clients detriment. Regulators do not enforce the rules and ignoring them make up their own rules to use clients’ money. Do I trust the stockmarket/ brokers and banks> a resounding ‘NO’ iis the answer from experience at their hands.
I whole-heartedly agree with Gary Lundgren! We can only trust in ourselves and other advisors/citizens/investors who have their eyes open to what is really going on. I would like to thank Martin Weiss and his analysts for helping me to open my eyes and learn about the collusion that is going on between Wall Street and Washington. They are slowly stealing our wealth and freedoms as Americans. I have been following Weiss recommendations as outlined in his book (The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide). While I may not be able to do everything that he suggests, I will be prepared the best that I can and be able to duck down when it does hit the fan!
Dear Martin
I live in Australia, although the subject is oriented to the US, hope you will allow me to make a few comments.
Your question – ” CAN YOU EVER trust Wall Street to anticipate major market turns ”
Before one answers this, the pre-cursor question is ” WHOM CAN YOU TRUST?”. The US Government? Presidents Office? Upper House? Lower House?Wall Street? Business Leaders? From what is being said, it appears the answer to all these would be “NO”. It is not my purpose to put the US down, US is not alone the situation as it stands is global, covering all nations, it is only a question of degrees.
My view is that if you cannot get past the first base of trust as a whole, then asking specifically about anticipating major market turns, becomes some what irrelevant. By the way who is ” Wall Street”? Surely it must be the people behind this label, we know the leaders of the organisations which make up ” Wall Street”, so to a large degree they would be setting the direction and agendas in their respective organisations; is this done independently or to some degree, behind the scenes, informally co-ordinated? History teaches us that the ‘few’ have tendencies and abilities to exploit the ‘many’. At this moment in time the ‘many’ continue to being exploited by the “few”. Until the agendas of the few are made more transparent, tread carefully with dimension of ‘trust’ and encourage the Martin Weiss’s of this world to continue with their work. Well done Martin, may the “Power” that you believe in, continue to bless you every day.
I trust Wall Street, because it works just the way it’s created to. All this negative chatter shows me that people are not educated in finance and investing on the competitive level of consciousness. If we want fairness and cop ability, then that only comes when consciousness works from creative potentials where competitive behavior isn’t rewarded with large cash,instead large cash can be rewards for the few using creative solutions to better humanity on any level. Wall Street has a system that just rewards large cash to people who can out whit or destroy the competition through practices of deception, manipulation and cheating others out of their cash. We still think to much in the paridigm that there isn’t enough for everyone so I will get mine at all cost before someone tries to take it from me. This will continue to be the lie Wall Street and Washington says is the capitalist way, but in truth it’s not. This is how manipulation makes everyone think there is free markets and that companies work for their stock holders best interests, when in fact few do. It’s all a lesson “we create the world we live in from our thinking process this is what it looks like”, each commentator is correct based on their present belief system. Change the world change your beliefs. “Save the world changel the cheerleader’s Thoughts.”
As regrettable as the truth may, be the answer is no. The problem is not a question of how the compensation works or any of a myriad of other excuses – the problem is systemic. The Wall Street world is a self perpetuating cabal of individuals who believe that they are superior and irrevocably entitled to every penny that they can get their hands on. Membership in the club is a license to steal. There seems to be an absolute belief that the “challenge” of Wall Street is the highest that can be aspired to and that anything else is inferior and only entitled to disdain. Wall Streeters want not only their compensation but yours and mine as well. There is no “greater good” in this crowd there is only the here and now. Whoever can buy the best toys at the end of the day wins.
Don’t think wall street can ever be trusted. Must have advise from a reliable source outside wall street.
In every situation one needs to examine where the vested interests are. For example, if a counselor will benefit more by not completely solving the problem there is a temptation to delay solution. If a Doctor makes more from surgery than from a less invasive cure, there is a tendency to recommend the surgery. It applies to every area of life, from the church to schools to politics. The rewards for cheating on Wall street are greater than for most other fields, and it is relatively easy to hide because most people don’t know how to check. It should surprise no one that the tendency is to cheat.
Wall Street (like any institution) can only be as trust worthy as the character and competence of the people who manage the organizations there.
The famous quote of the Clinton era was, “character doesn’t matter” (in a president of all things) as long as the good times were rolling in the economy. It seems the chickens have come home to roost where leaders of all kinds of financial institutions took the Clinton montra to heart from Madoff to the boys in men’s jobs at Fanny, Freddie, AIG, GM, Chrysler who litterally stole and defrauded billions from the institutions they were supposted to be exercising fiduciary responsibiliy and leadership over. The SEC also ignored too many warnings that fraud was endemic at Freddie and Fanny. They knew these institutions were “too big to fail” and the FEd and the Feds would have to bail them out as the FED has been doing with the Rothschild and Mandrake game since our FED was instituted in 1913.
We know history has shown there is a brutal end to the Fiat money game when it crashes down on the nation where its victims have their savings in the form of worth less and less paper currency. The typical end of a Fieat currency is when the people with the real goods eventually go back to barter instead of accepting the Fiat money of the realm; instead historically they have demanded goods in exchange or payment in gold or some stable currency. Complacency and ethnocentrism has led the people who live in the land where the United States used to be to believe a hyper inflation can’t happen here-while the FED has replaced the dollar with a Fiat money substitute called the $FRN. It is truely late in the day.
We know the so called dollar (actually a Fiat money $FRN , Federal Reserve Note) is in serious danger of loosing its reserve currency status it has held since 1944. When the $FRN masquerading as the $USD looses its reserve currency status, the $FRN will have the greatest hyperinflation in the land (where the United States used to be) that the world has ever seen.
Wall Street is not to blame for this disaster, although it has been first in line to take advantage of the changes that have happened in the last thirty years. Massive deregulation, removing the protections that were instituted as a result of the Great Depression in order to prevent another. Since those safeguards have been removed, Wall Street merely took advantage of them as you would expect any profit maximizing industry to do. When gold is spread all over the floor, and they are given the green light to pick it up, they pick it up. Getting mad at Wall Street is pointless, Just as it is pointless to tell Larry he should not chart in order to win. What we need to do is become informed and, only after becoming informed, vote.
My opinion?
Wall Street should not ever be fully trusted, same for Washington. This was our fault. It takes effort to be knowledgeable financially, and unfortunately most people, because it was easier, placed their trust in a government infested with special interest groups.
The shortsighted few, think this economic situation came about because of the current government administration. WAKE UP PEOPLE…It took years to attain this level of incompetence, and Democrats and Republicans can share the blame. Everyone forgets, this is the government…it’s the same lumbering slow, overfed, juggernaught that has been raised by “We the People…”. It has now PO’ed the middle class, which is good. This is an election year; which is REALLY good, considering the memory of the normal voter is really short.
Maybe we could have REAL conscientious people and not have career politicians now?
Just look up prisonplanet.tv. The DVD tells whats happening on Wall Street and how the USA is being shafted by the Puppets in Washington including Obama for the big bankers who really run the USA. The Federal Reserve. Bernanke, Greenspan etc should be tried for treason. Anyone who asks these people they avoid the answer or plainly just refuse. The people need to stand up and see what is truely happening and why they want full control
As for global warming……………Its just a smoke screen so the people who control the Puppets in Govt get what they want…..POWER over the masses!!
Martin:
Trust Wall Street again – are you kidding – that must be a joke question! As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me” is the answer to your question!
As a reader of SAFE MONEY for years (when your father was still with you), you predicted LONG BEFORE the events folder – the stock & housing bubble. When I talked to others about it, I was labelled crazy / radical person BUT now that label, for some reason, has disappeared – you wonder why? Just keep up the good work for alerting AMERICANS – just like your father did with the “saving the dollar.”
No Wall Street cannot be trusted. Wall Street is akin to a bleating Judas Goat. They entice average investors with offerings for securities, bonds, etc. when they (Wall Street, i.e. Goldman Sachs) are shorting the same securities.
I think Wall Street is the scapegoat here. Start with The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and those politicians, since that time, who were obsessed with everyone owning a home whether they could afford it or not. Then ask why politicians brow beat lending institutions for not making mortgage loans more available to hi-risk clients. Further more, why do we have elected officials charged with providing oversight over government sponsored entities (GSEs: Fan and Fred) and at the same time accepting campaign funds from those GSEs? Need we explain the concept of “conflict of interest” to Barney Frank and other elected officials who seemed to have conveniently refused to see the imminent train wreck? Remember years ago the criteria one must have satisfied before obtaining a morgage? Yes, applicants had to have a 20% downpayment, and their monthly mortgage payment could not exceed 1/3 their monthly income. No, there are many we can never trust again. Seemed we have totally abandoned moral hazard with respect to decision making. Decisions without subsequent consequences carry no responsibility. Until we restore consequences (moral hazard), the system will continue to feature no accountability, no responsibility and no integrity. Failure sometimes is a good thing.
If people listen to “business savvy” people like Peter Schiff, Marc Faber, and futurist Gerald Celente they will all come to the conclusion that BOTH Democrats and Republicans have lost their way and forgot about the US Constitution and Bill of Rights and are ONLY concerned about their pensions! Wall Street is owned by the Globalists such as the Bilderburgs, and Illuminati whose main agenda is a “one world government” and the actual and total enslavement of all the world’s citizens! TRUST Wall Street?! You have to be kidding! Trust our government?! You have to be kidding! The only people and things you can trust today are: God who will direct/protect his people once again and a good track record in “trusting your gut judgements!” Gold and silver are in the process of being “manipulated” by Goldman Saks and other bankers. But manipulation of the precious metals markets will not be able to withstand the market pressures as there are too many factors and bubbles that will not withstand any person or any organizations who wish to control the value of gold and silver! Look at the track record of both Wall Street and the Democrats/Republicans and you will find lies, coverups, and corruption! It won’t be long before ALL the countries throughout the world and the US become “absolutely bankrupt” due to their ability to print money off the printing presses as money grew on trees! Doesn’t ANYONE, with the exception of Ron Paul, Marc Weber, Peter Schiff, and Peter Celente remember the lesson(s) of the Weimar Republic? Remember how the printing presses were going on 24/7 and people used their money instead of wood? THIS seems to be the way in which our government and all the other governments of the world are taking their people and country too! Like Weimar….War will be the only way our government and the governments of the world will resort to in order to stop excess capacity and bring people to full employment and put money into the coffers of BOTH Wall Street and our government’s coffers!
Today has been coming for some time. Doing business with every type of post cold war “ex-antagonist” country without any consultation of the american public exudes arrogance on the part of our elected GOV. and in turn the U.S.’S financial asset management, these are the ones to blame for the mess, and do not expect any good Repentance from these hardened backsliders! All the play’s were without a huddle, Now China and india etc…are flush with our cash and our plan to tank the dollar will be at great sacrifice of the U.S. citizen’s, innocents in the great coming economic nuke ! wow , Who’s plan was it anyway to bring china and other countries into the economic adults lounge, so what if they are extra ordinary kids , they are still kids . Greed and pride brought this crisis about pure and simple and now the dragon of old has be given new blood in its veins I dread the torment he is about to unleash on our once semi manageable , semi peaceful world ! Who unlocked the the pit? Europeans are false allies LIKE JOSEPH’S BROTHERS WHO SOLD HIM INTO EYGPT and under an immigration crunch more dangerous than ours , in every way they are afraid , just look at the effort it took to ban their towers and what a back lash. DID SOMEONE FORGET WHY THERE ARE BORDERS AND BIG FORTS ALONG THEM ? What a bunch of numbskulls ! now WE ARE left to
‘FIGHT !!!” for our cultural lives to SURVIVE IN SOME semblance of our former COUNTRY AND WORLD ! like the Jews of germany.
Will be given a chance to leave peacefully and migrate to some other place just not in their back yard! Where is another america? WHERE IS ANOTHER PLACE OF SAFETY ? Tell me what was the hurry to do business with all these countries around the world ? Why weren’t there safe guards put in place in case the experiment failed ? The very lack of which tells me this was the enemy within destroying our fabric intentionally part of a larger group of globalists EU included RUTHLESSLY SEWING together dissimilar fabrics which is distinctly forbidden ? Our desperate gambling habit has destroyed us all ! The fatalistic saying is a sick epitaph “Who die’s with the most toys wins ” {ANSWER} unless the lead paint on the toys is what slowly killed you!
Seriously,
I landlord for a living. Commercial tenants/business people are scared out-of-ther-minds. Never seen anything like this before, and I have been doing this for 30+ yrs. Little by little they are going out of business. Even reducing rents is not helping. Residential tenants are losing jobs, vacating units, moving in with family or friends. A small apt that normally housed 2 will now house 6. Fear on faces, bounced checks, late payments. Never seen anything like this before. Only people who pay well are military at the local base. They even got a raise this yr. And Wall Street and the DC politburo say there is a recovery? I mean, I don’t have an MBA, but clearly all is not well and things are going from bad to worse. Dont let your kids be a landlord, let them be a banker!
Once again we have in the uk idiots printing money in fact they have just stopped the 64 thousand dollar question who is going to buy the debt £660,000 a day, from money week watch out for the coming inflation.
terry
I am a skeptic just getting into this.Right now I am really not sure of what I am Getting Myself into . This is something I have wanted to Know How to Go about investing .
But with working to feed my Family and and get them thru school Keep a roof over our heads. 20 Hr work days for 55 years. no money left over for much else.
God bless you for giving me this opertunity find what it is all about.
We are now in end-game of big government vs small government. History suggests that there may be a serious backlash. I suggest the date July 14, 1789, It can happen here.
A comment for Barry.. dont continue to live BELOW your means and save it all……. you
need some pleasant memories along life’s pathway.Take out some now,go on a nice cruise or go somewhere that you have always wanted to,get some really nice clothes and look sharp.We dont know what tomorrow will bring so the here and now is powerful..try it.
We are living in hard times, and we need to “desolve” congress if they are NOT doing their job. It is disgraceful to hear the bickering, name calling ,and see all the dirt people send out on the internet. We should not vote for any one who is not representative of that privileged position,and who cannot handle himself/herself in a manner worthy of the position. Someone needs to tell Wall St. like it is,they cant continue to grab our money that way. What if investors say enough is enough we are getting OUT!! What happened on Thursday is because of what happened in Greece.THEY say its up to us to follow economic and political news that may impact the market negatively.
They have a problem , in that their objectives are different from the public at large. Retain power at any cost, deal with the symptoms as a token of effort, also the have no idea what school of economics works and control of finanaces should be taken away and only allocated back based on income from taxes of the previous year, with exceptions of war but subject to a referendum with spending limitations. Political donations should be banned and any candidate found receving them to forfeit standing ever again.Companies trying to sway elections fined 50% of their capital and the board removed repaying all their income to the goverment.
US government tired to help Wall street by giving them more credit and US dollar carry trade in last May,hoping they win more money outside US for the next write down in Aug by using the media power to blind us .Wall street smart people asked the US government to tell the whole world’s government to act together with low rate and stimulus package to help their own economic because Wall street know they will afraid of high unempolyment and deflation.When all acted together,stockmarket rallied.But many don’t understand what the Wall street had created the next time-bomb ahead.
A pay back time is coming soon.
Good luck
Took all my money out of stocks a while ago and put it in a nice, safe local bank run by local people. It isn’t earning much but it’s still MINE!!! Wall Street will never see it again!
We can never trust Wall Street as long as they’re immorally greed driven–and continually get away with it.
Christy Lowry
The Wall Street Journal used to have a regular piece comparing the performance of Fund Managers against a portfolio generated by throwing darts at the WSJ stock listings page. The dartboard portfolio consistently beat the funds guys. Or, put it another way, you could hire a monkey and pay him in bananas and do as well as the pros. Most of the “pros” can’t predict the timing of the change in the street light, much less the market. But in all fairness, timing is the single hardest thing to predict. What will happen is a good bit easier. I look at it as comparable to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. The more certain you are of the direction, the less certain you are of the timing. I’ve been working on a cycle indicator that shows promise, but still a work in progress. Appreciate all your good work.
In regardsto the looming BOND MARKET COLLAPSE you predict do you believe SHORT term CORPORATE BONDS would be similarly afflicted?
Hello Martin:
Please try to answer me in connection with the following: Bryan Rich writes that it is a Win-Win Senario for the Dollar. Do you agree? I am heavy in Gold & Silver. Shall I short? I very much trust your advice.
At this time there are too many contributors that make up the outcome of the market and this makes it far too unpredictable. With the other economy’s having an impact and none of the information reliable. You have to devote too much of your time to over see the outcome, and I just don’t have that kind of time.
Dear Martin,
I am confused: 2 months ago you and your researchers were announcing the inevitable funerals of the USD. The proof was the evolution of USD against the EUR and gold. Now the EUR plunged from 1.55 to 1.36 USD in a matter of days. Please review your predictions on USD and make the necessary adjustments.
Regards,
Victor Faranga
Never trusted Wall St., never will. I did trust you, Mr. Weiss. I paid for your and your firms expertise. Now I’m beginning to wonder about that. No more excuses. Just produce.
What a silly question. Who brought about the recent stock meltdown? And Wall street is not just a place it is an entity which manages Washingtons economic policies. Have you noticed where the treasury secretary and the fed chairman usually come from?
Deny the people interest on CD’s and other conservative sources of income and force them into things like stocks (Savings and Loan bank bailout), or housing (Tech stock bailout), or junk bonds and risky stocks (current bailout) This seems enough, to me, to answer the question.
Deceit has always made money. There may be honest indiviuals and businesses but Wall Street party has the ” eat-drink and make money, for tomorrow we die” Attitude. Trust Wall Street??? SURE…
No. Under the current scenario Wall Street cannot be trusted. Currently there are two problems. One, the reglations for the street’s business model are WHOLLY inadequate. Second, the street is populated by elites who have NO emotional, national or psychological connection to the rest of the population. Bill Clinton opened the door to the financial crisis and the Republicans took advantage of the situation and used that open door to ROB the US population and the world. We create and install appropriate regulation and NOT let wall street write them! Second the perpetrators MUST be prosecuted and as any other criminal would to send a message to populace that justice is served. The administration must have the nerve to take these guys on. Obama has the wrong people to do it…Geitner, Summers and Emanuel and TOO close to wall street. He needs to replace them now and allow Volker to lead the effort conceptually and have able people to write and implement these regulatons now. It is not as complex as wall street makes it look. China, Brazil and India are applying BASIC, FUNDAMENTAL financial principles and are doing just fine. We should return to the fundamentals and not have products so complex NO ONE…NOT EVEN THE INVENTORS can figure them out. Goldman Sachs has and that trouble!
where will the market go next?
Wall Street can not be trusted. So investers need to weigh the options and choose the best route to take for their financial goals. Greed has made bedfellows of too many fundsters. And that is no joke. So who do you trust? Check out the 3 Rs- Reputation, Record, and Results. Check out HIT-Honesty, Integrity, and Talent. Caveat Emptor. There are financial guides who fit the bill and thank you , Mr. Weiss, for being one of the Good Guys. I trust you for financial assist. Now I just need the cash to invest. It is on the way. I am an optimist and always will be. Such a good blog. People are so inventive and “thinkful” about so many options. I am learning by getting their feedback. Just means I need to spend more time here and delete time wasting emails. This is a good site for powering on my financial brain.
Thank you Dr. Weiss. Dr. Weiss you have been great and wonderful and we all greatly appreciate your outstanding advice. Can we trust Wall Street? Well it is very difficult to trust Wall Street but this is the financial system that we are using and so many companies put themselves on the market for investors and to raise capital for the companies. Unfortunately sometimes their are more losers than winners. So we turn to you Dr. Weiss to help guide us through the fog. Will Wall Street tells us when things will go bad? Well only after they take what they need first, more importantly with research form you and ourselves hopefully as investors we can make the best decisions. Thank you again Dr. Weiss
To Ken for the trivia question: My guess is Thomas Jefferson. When the guys were arguing about and trying to create a system of government, he wanted to set up controls so that raiding the public treasury was not allowed. He was voted down.
Does anyone know the answer? Current government reform will only succeed when enough of congress is imbued with the high level of thinking in favor of the Public Good to pass term limits. I think they think of the public treasury as the Cash Cow. That is why term limits, national health care, social security, medicare, (you fill in the rest and there are a lot more on the chopping block) are removed from congress agendas as soon as possible by delaying, fillibustering, getting lost in committees, being voted down when in session, being voted on in secret meetings (behind closed doors) , by votes being bought with financial gifts from lobby groups, and by whatever other means their crafty minds can conger up.
What is the root of all evil? ” Abolute power corrupts absolutely.” There you have it. Those that think they have absolute power will abuse power. Those that know we are share kinship with each other, those that are powered by the Golden Rule and concepts of brotherhood,will use power for the Common Good. Amen.
Hey, does anyone know where the absolute power quote came from?
No. They can never be trusted.
Wall Street – and in varying degrees, its counterparts in other countries – is the problem, not the solution. A few words to the media, a carefully placed purchase or sale of stocks, and a catastrophe is launched AFTER the people in control have made their killing. And the synergy twixt politics, banking and stock markets will ultimately bring down capitalism as we know it. How, given evolutionary principles of survival, can we expect otherwise? Sunday School morality re insider trading cannot be taken seriously.
Schizophrenic nation? How deep and how dangerous?
I figure that the preoccupation of the media (and most newsletters) with relatively small and inconsequential matters in the foreground (dealing in billions) leaves the entire Western world almost completely unprepared for the astronomical proportions of the 500 (800?) trillions of unregulated, unknown and unknowable derivatives out there in the cosmos, waiting to swoop down on our unprotected shores like a mile high (10 mile high?) tsunami. Is this the most incredible split in common sense ever (mis)conceived? Yet barely a peep is heard, even among the honest. I think this must be the most frustrating psycho-sociological period in all history. We all know it is coming, but nobody moves a muscle towards higher (much higher) ground! We just play marbles on the beach, and talk about who’s winning!! Carumba!!!
I anticipated the early 2009 downturn and bailed out of most of my equities. Now I predict that the Wall Street boys will not have changed their “leopard” spots and the volatility of the past will continue. Their greed knows no limit as was the case with Bernie you know who. If Iran gets a financial backer for its anti-Israel/US stand and develops nuclear weapons in the next twelve months or so a) What might they do with them? b) What warning will they give? and c) What could that do overnight to global equities markets? If it happens I will have very little indeed of my financial assets in equities and will philosophically accept limited returns in the meantime. Successful punters play the odds. Some government guaranteed Australian financial institutions such as Bank of Queensland and Credit Union Australia are paying 6.25% p.a. and 6.3% respectively for term deposits and Ubank is paying 5.62% on call which appeal to me very much. I sleep better at night.
Simultaneous Debt Write Down.
I was curious if anyone had seen any economic predictions based on a simultaneous debit write-down by the majority of G-20 nations and the economic repercussions that might arise because of it. Have anyone seen any of these forecasts?
I FOLLOW YOUR THINKING. I WANT TO ASK YOU IF YOU THINK THAT THIS IS THE TIME TO LIQUIDATE MY STOCK PORTFOLIO? I RESEARCHED THE COMPANIES THAT I INVESTED IN AND FELT GOOD ABOUT THESE COMPANIES. IF YOU SAY THAT DESPITE THIS, I SHOULD STILL SELL OFF, I WILL SERIOUSLY CONSIDER IT AS SOON AS MONDAY MORNING. AWAITING YOUR ANSWER. REGARDS, JANET NADLER-FORMER LIBRARIAN – RETIRED.
I am considering longer term to hook up with Weiss Capital Management since I am already with Fidelity Investments. I just recently received a letter from Fidelity about sweep accounts, to sweep out of Cash Reserves Money Market Fund. I have interest due to SEC actions Suspending Money Market Redemptions Is Now Legal; SEC Approves New Money Market Regulation In 4-1 vote. I called Fidelity Investments to determine where the monies from FDRXX would sweep into. My choice would be any one of four banks. The four banks, on their approved list, best that I can interpret, are all on your bad bank X high risk list. Bail out of Fidelity.and tell them to go fly a kite?
Thx,
vic
I recently overheard a conversation from a person in a position to know. Goldman Sachs hired 1200 people recently. His question, and mine, was “what do they know, or are they doing, that we don’t know about?” Any ideas about what this could be leading to?
Martin -
what’s your source for this quote:
“And still today, we see Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA taking over 90 percent of the entire U.S. market for mortgages … while, at the same time, we see the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury providing 90 percent of the financing. ”
Stealth Communism?
Leland
Wall Street as they say make money for the stockbroker, then the company,
then the investor, if they’re lucky.
Pure Capitalism is essentially a winner vs. a looser mentality. Those in the know capture market opportunities before the general public. This includes floor traders and market makers and investment managers (Goldman Sacks etc.) that funnel these trends to there insider tag teams before the public learns and can react. The thought that public money earmarked from the Government to the insiders, is the most moral way to manage returns fairly for all is in theory impossible to achieve. Couple this with the PHD Black and Shoul mathematical theories only understood by the elitist makes for a top down process of power and greed. Bartering in GOLD will win when all else fails. Planting your own seed and gathering your own meat will not be far behind.
what happens to TIPS in the coming bond market turmoil?
^ ^ ^ Jean nailed it. Long story short, I don’t trust Wall Street.
Martin;
You keep harping on ARM resets being a problem.. I wanted to pass along some information that may change your thoughts here.. I am the holder of one of these.. and the BENEFICERY of it.. I have a 7 year with a 1 % up per year celing limit (max 10%). Mine recently DROPPED from 5.25 % to 3.5%. this essentially gives me 2 years minimum before I am even back to what I was paying before. I am prepared to pay it in full if necessary but am glad to have the delay and I suspect many if not most holders of these will be in the same boat for at least the next year or two. Several other sources of information I follow suggest that rates will probably remain low for some time yet (up to several years). There are other factors you don’t mention regularly that affect the potential delay of inflation.. the money has to be distributed to consumers first and this is not happening (as pointed out by others). Also our currency’s strength is weighed against other currency (such as the Euro) which as Claus has pointed out is poised to sink. Until our economy picks up I doubt we are going to see much inflation. Someone pointed out that it generally takes a minimum of 2 years from the time the money supply is increased until the inflationary effects are felt. with our current economy it probably will be longer potentially starting around 2012.
Martin Z
Hello Martin,
You continue to warn about a bond market collapse, yet the long term treasury bond market is going up. not down. Any investments that have been correlated to bond market downtrends (i.e.TBT) over the last 9-10 months have been losers. What do investors need to look for so that they know that it is time to be out of long term bonds?
Given the 9 predictions and their probable consequences what should be done with with-profits life insurance policies that have a current redemption value ? Is it worth cashing them in now ?
I don’t see how we can ever have sound currency based on the how our FED and its member banks create it out of thin air? I think we lost our access to money when gold and silver were decoupled from the greenbacks. How do we get sound money now?
Bryan Richs’ market analysis is for the most part the opposite of Larry Edelsons. I would like to know who is the smarter analyist?
None is to be trusted (in the sense I’d adopt his investment recommendations without
forther thought) because it’s money that’s going into play: if they are wrong, I lose.
Their main concern is to keep the market churning out fees for themselves. It’s a good idea to hear what they say…then trust your own instincts in where you put your money.
There is no inside stuff blog writers have to peddle–it’s mostly steer manure. If you have inside knowledge, you aren’t going to give it to the world in a blog, column, or whatever. Your going to use your own money to become an overnight billionaire and then you won’t have to write to earn a living.
martin you have not talked about the timing of the fall in commercial real estate and its effect on the economy.
The facts speak for themselves regarding trusting the Wall Street players’ accounting creativity and social/political ethical responsibilities and involvement, or lack of them.
The major question is: how in the world was it possible first of all, to let these catastrophic financial global practices take place without responsible and efficient control mechanics and ruin countries all over the world? I suppose, the big winners taking advantage of these irresponsible western capital games, are the new emerging global block powers in Asia.
never!
wall st, any centralised bank are curupted by fiat money
so long as the free market relies on waste to fuel production, we will forever live in debt.
Greetings,
If a person such as myself would like to invest in your associate’s recommendations using mutual funds… please have the Weiss folks show a few of their mutual fund recommendations along with their ETFs, stocks, MLP and other issues. I know the arguments for and against mutual funds in this day of age, however there MUST be some reasonable choices that can dovetail their recommendations. Thanks, Jim R
If anyone other than those that have positions on the stock exchange were able to know the timing. Those board members wouldn’t be able to reap the big rewards as they do. They will never allow the average investor to know when the time is best.
What does it mean? Of course it cannot be trusted but this is the game. The unpredictability is the essence of the market. If we wanted a predictable market, than we should get rid of the whole exchanges. We cannot have only investors, we should have first speculators to gain money and then become investors. How many of us have the time to learn where to invest their money? Only those who already have made money. The restrictions in trading gold, oil, etc are not good even for the WS. It is an attempt to stop the natural move of these prices, because if these markets are traded only by specialists, they cannot take big advantage one over the other.
Martin, it is comming, and there really isn’t anything anyone can do, I’m afraid we’re in too deep. I’d like to see the Fed disolved, and the government go back to a gold standard. I’d also like to see term limits on congress, but that will be up to the states, congress isn’t going to end their own jobs. They have it too good, why would they? I’m also a Ron Paul supporter… if that makes me crazy to most, so be it. He is a man I can believe in.
BTW, keep up the good work and god bless…
Wall Street is all about serving the interests of the cabal, namely the federal reserve and the investment banking community. They are not to be trusted and they were in truth never trustworthy. Their incestuous positions inside and outside government allows them to rule the many for the benefit of the few with total impunity. The death knell of this economy started with financial derivatives, and any regulator that is worth his or her salt would be calling for an end to the CDS market immediately. Ask yourself whether Wall Street is not leading the assault on Greece and reaping huge benefits by betting on its demise. Whose next?…Spain, Portugal, the UK, and finally, the US. It is not time for timid behavior on the part of the American Public.It is time to act before it is too late!
I think they Wall Street are leading us into another trap, as they have done many times idn decades past, and each time the losers are the middle class. As we know wealth does not disappear it is simply transferred, where to? Why the Wall Street bankers of course, they grow wealthier, while the middle class is dispossed. Might I be forgiven for thinking this is deliberately so?
Jim in reply to your comment, with what gold? Fort Knox is empty, thanks in no small measure to those swindlers in the Fed!!!
We need to regulated with laws CEO pay and influence. They are supposed to work for the investor and this is not the case. 30 yrs ago I read a book about how CEO’s, control to much. Some say the stock holder has a vote. I, say a vote for who, the people he and his board recommend? The people on his board are his. They all set on each others boards. CIO’s CFO’s and presidents of a company are appointed by the CEO and they all set on each others boards. And we wonder why the mess in this country! If greed, and corruption did’nt have anything to do with this mess then why are the banks paying back all the money. A few years a Coors and Wellsfargo set on our board and we had people on thier board? United health sets on our board and we use thier insurance? Get it!!!!
It is clear that the big Wall Street corporations are not concerned about what is good for iindividual investors. They knowing lead us into financial destruction time after time and the federal government (which depends on Wall Street to sell its treasury bonds) does nothing to cleaan out the snake den.
No, you cannot trust what they are saying. You can only trust in what they are doing. As we see from Goldman Sachs’ recent suit these two can be different. One of the problems with doing this is the lack of transparency due to the large off-the-exchange derivative positions. If this new financial regulation becomes law it will be harder for the large 5 banks to hide their actions and risk taken. That is why they are fighting it so hard.
It takes a very long time for a corporation the size of the United States to go bankrupt.
Wall Street is run by crooks and con-men. They pay off their fraternity buddies at other companys to give them high ratings, then they cook the books to screw the investors and wreck the economy, and then after everything implodes, we have to pay their million dollar bonuses while we lose our jobs and they run off on their yachts. They should all be lined up against a wall and shot.
No. Corporate America IS the government. As such that “government”, because of the immense subsidies it procures for itself, is essentially Socialistic. They are able to implement practically any program that fattens their wallets, much like previous legally voted governments voted themselves raises, good health care, and lifetime pensions. Corporations (especially large ones with hoarded cash) now are now “persons” by definition and can buy practically any politician with campaign funds. Thanks to our Supreme Court, corporations have special powers backed by the rule of law.
We now have a the best government money can buy. Sad to say, I do not trust Wall Street, which epitomizes greed run amuck.
A BIG YES —— We have to upgrade and inprove the laws surrounding same.
root of evil is money oil greedy basterds our corn is of harvest