Brian I appreciate both your and M-Dog's points. The market's way high, and all boats fall in a sinking tide. Indeed I'm still heavily weighted in cash. Out of one mouth the government says the recession is over, out of the other there are millions more foreclosures on the landscape.
On the other hand, I'm up over 15% in the last couple of days on a teensy Chinese stock, and Connacher has two things going for us we didn't have before: hedges and OPEC (stable oil prices even in a bad economy). Still and all the hedges are something I've considered also for quite some time, because just as one can ladder them on the way up, what happens also on the way back down? And as for Chinese stocks, there's poor visibility and sometimes it seems as though we're sitting at a craps table.
Unemployment is supposed to surpass 10% in the U.S. this year, but that still means 9 of 10 (or more probably 8.5 of 10) have jobs.
Thanks for the words of caution, and to both Brian and M-Dog, yes your points are well taken. I'm trying to pay attention this time around.
-bbq