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"Should Investors Be Mad At Markets Or Themselves?"...
...is the title of the article for 8/20/2011, which includes, "Yet for some, a substantial correction or full-fledged bear market are just changes in the investing environment providing opportunities to make just as much or more from downside positions."
Tony, with all due respect your author is presenting a false choice here. It may also be considered a red herring as it distracts from some very real issues. Definition of "investor" is always a tough one in the first place. Is that anyone with some skin in the game? Many workers have been "defaulted" into target retirement funds where they work who have no idea what they're investing in. Some don't even realize they're investing in a mutual fund, or for that matter couldn't tell ya what a mutual fund is.
But, we digress. Yes there's some real anger in this land and it surfaces in some of the posts on the board. IMHO no one here is angry at "the market", but rather at incompetence at the highest levels which adversely affects markets, and also at elements in society, particularly elected leaders, who have perhaps unwittingly made the markets an uneven playing field or, worse yet, have corrupted them by promoting the false assumption that every Tom, Dick, and Harry can achieve a comfortable retirement through market based investments managed by himself. Kind of a modern day version of "Sugar Candy Mountain" in Orwell's Animal Farm.
Ain't so and the politicians know it. For starters it ignores widely differing education levels and skills among these "investors" and also ignores the fact that markets are by their very nature susceptible to peaks and valleys, either of which can persist for decades. The false assumption does in fact lead to disillusionment among many and the angst your author is likely referencing. More importantly, it has led to/allowed a trashing of pensions public and private alike. Even the minimal safety net provided by Social Security is now threatened. Meanwhile wealth continues to concentrate more and more in the hands of a few. Warren Buffet maintains that in many years he pays a smaller percentage of his earnings in taxes than does his secretary or house-keeper. And yes, it makes me angry.
Comments
But, we digress. Yes there's some real anger in this land and it surfaces in some of the posts on the board. IMHO no one here is angry at "the market", but rather at incompetence at the highest levels which adversely affects markets, and also at elements in society, particularly elected leaders, who have perhaps unwittingly made the markets an uneven playing field or, worse yet, have corrupted them by promoting the false assumption that every Tom, Dick, and Harry can achieve a comfortable retirement through market based investments managed by himself. Kind of a modern day version of "Sugar Candy Mountain" in Orwell's Animal Farm.
Ain't so and the politicians know it. For starters it ignores widely differing education levels and skills among these "investors" and also ignores the fact that markets are by their very nature susceptible to peaks and valleys, either of which can persist for decades. The false assumption does in fact lead to disillusionment among many and the angst your author is likely referencing. More importantly, it has led to/allowed a trashing of pensions public and private alike. Even the minimal safety net provided by Social Security is now threatened. Meanwhile wealth continues to concentrate more and more in the hands of a few. Warren Buffet maintains that in many years he pays a smaller percentage of his earnings in taxes than does his secretary or house-keeper. And yes, it makes me angry.
Thanks for the post but I must take issue, hank