One day in the August of 1980, I was a 3 year old sitting on the school bus returning home from school. It was the last day school. Rita an 8 or 9 year old was sitting next to me. She asked to see my report card and as I proceeded to show it to her, she started taunting me, she said I did badly. I panicked. I then threw the report card out of the window of the moving bus. That solved my problem. For one night. As I sit here typing this post, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is about to announce another huge rate cut. The stock market seem to be rallying one more time. Interest rates dropped quite steeply, and as a matter of fact I am sitting here at my table waiting for the announcement before I pull the trigger on some "stuff" I have queued up. Deals are ready to fly once again, and there is this air of mooted optimism. This is quite a contrast to the last post I made. This is even more pronounced considering that the post was made less than two hours ago. The FEDS seem to be throwing all they have at this credit crisis (I wonder why it is called credit crisis, can someone come up with a more technical sounding term). The solutions work for two weeks and then we end up worse off than when we started out. In a very weird kind of way the Chairman reminds me of myself 27 years ago. I threw out the report card because I did not like what was on it, as if that would solve all of my life's problems. It did solve the problem, but just for one night. The morning after my able mother drove me to school in that shiny green ole school VW Passat and proceeded to demand my report card from the head mistress. That was when I realized that the head teacher does not go on 'long vacation' dang! I had to face the consequence of my sloppy performance in front of strangers. What would Bernie do when the real report card of the economy is made public? The most damagin thing about this crisis is the misleading reports coming from the financial institutions. They are often so off the mark that only a fool will beleive the next release. There are tough times ahead, sit back and buckle up my friends. It will get even bumpier(?)
I will be straying from the focus of this blog for a couple weeks. Suddenly, Nigeria, Africa and all the other stuff have become secondary to this brother. I have intentional kept this credit crunch-saga, market correction thing of this spot. One, I tend to get too personal when discussing it. Two, it is extremely difficult not to sound like a prophet of doom about the situation around here. Somehow I find it impossible to put up any post unless I talk about it, so now, I am going to bare it all. Okay maybe not all. It is so convenient to read about the crisis in WSJ and NYTimes, and make possible conjectures with detachment. However it is a different ball game if every word of the FED Chairman, impact your very marrows. I long for those days, when I could read the Financial Times with my legs crossed while sipping a cup of coffee. Now I read feeds from WSJ as if the answers to the board exams are embedded in the Op-eds. The morning news stopped being fun, there is just too much at stake. As it becomes more and more apparent that experts do not have a clue about what they talk about, and insiders keep secrets, trust has become too rare. Last week it dawned on me that I spent over forty-five days chasing a security that was non-existent. I had all my phone calls answered, like everything was cool. I was given the run around and they did it with a straight face too. I wish these charade could just stop and they'd let the market hit rock bottom so that we can start afresh. Talking with old timers on the phone this days feel like, part negotiation part fact finding mission. It is hard to stop oneself from seeking hidden clues in every statements that insiders make. The sad thing though seem to be that insiders do not have a clue. Just 7 days ago , pheew. If you are seeking the central point of this piece, my bet is that you wouldn't find one, there is no point to it. I hope to read this in a few years and be able to laugh at myself. Have a blessed day. (coffee room)(Tuesday waiting for Bernanke's cut) **posted from mobile**
Once in a while, blog entries on here turn into a free for all pointless rant. If you are averse to communication like these, please stop reading. Also, file this under the desperate guy angry at everything about corporate America category. I always had that little respect for the Merrill guys like they were like the chosen bunch, getting things done, bending the rules and of course carting away lots of dough while doing this. But today the mother ship ran aground. Oh yes there had been signs, but if you asked any of the Merrill guys, they had a ready answer, "Dude, this is Merrill Lynch, dude! do you think Merrill Lynch will pack up and leave. We've got deep pockets. Or maybe not. No kidding I know somebody that has lost his job 5 times in 18 months. To all my people who bit the dust today. Much love, the Ponzii scheme is indeed over. Dude, its Merrill, dude!
