Well we've had some early tax loss selling and we've had some scared investors removing themselves from this monetary mess. One thing that never seems to change is the eagerness of the government to bail out the company's that have poor management and tend to rip off the retail consumers they service the other 98% of the time.

Lets see...Citibank...aren't they the ones that charge 28% on all of their cards, not to mention outrageous late penalty charges when the prime rate is down at 4%.

Doesn't Ford, Chrysler and GM put out cars and trucks that are second best in the world now. Yes I drive them, but they are older, more reliable vehicles (er collectibles they are called). Not that we don't love these companies, but they need to compete better than they have. Did they not see the gas guzzler environment shrinking long ago? So why were they still making SUV's and trucks, not to mention cars with high gas consumtion still? Why were'nt they further than anyone else with Hybrid's? Why??!!!!

The SEC. Now that needs no further statement. That organization has to be the laughing stock of the investment world now. Two only two cases brought before them where they did anything. Two.............. And they get paid what??!!! $700,000 plus or minus a year, plus lots of great investor tips no doubt so we can get burned at the state by those whose should be getting burned by them. I'm speechless.......

So....where do we stand now as investors in a rocky boat. Are we going to sink, sail or drift?? The new year should give some indication. The Christmas retail numbers will be very key this year. If people stop buying we will no doubt see a bad case of deflation happening. If people stop buying cars in general again we will be witnessing deflation and my friends deflation is NOT a good thing in large quantities. It leads to the market meltdown we all do not want to witness in our time.

The numbers in Canada have stated that our housing market will not be drifting down as bad as the U.S. but we will see a drift to 10 or 15% lower selling prices over the next year. That's doable in these times I'm sure, after the runup of the last 10 to 15 years. Will oil recover?? Many experts say yes....and that I'm afraid is a good thing as well..despite the price at the pump being pushed back up. What could the government do to help everyone in Canada right now? Cap the tax on the gas.....keep it at 40 cents maximum (that would mean no additional taxes on gas if it rides over 1.00 a litre again. Yes that would help the retail purchaser and the oil companies get back on their feet. Don't just give the oil companies and banks money. Make it so the purchasers "want" to buy into them and save their money with them. Make it a pro-active scenerio and not reactive as it has been so far.

Will this correction/slump/meltdown of the market end soon. Personally I think so. I think we are bumping along the bottom of the fish bowl right now with a bit more yet to go. If deflation gets a big grip then all that goes to poop.

The bottom line...stop feeding into the greedy self motivated individuals that run the companies that are in financial trouble. Don't give the company money unless the management has been changed and that management has been proven a positive influence on the company. Maybe our new management team will be the positive influence that we are all "not" expecting. I hope so. I'm tired of the guy who puts a bit away each month for a rainy day being manhandled by these Scrooges. This has to end and it has to end now...while the market is weak and their position is of weakness. Its time for the government to do the right thing..the necessary thing...and remove the theives from their own stores. Its time to give the market back to the honest working people and its time for the financial institutions to start respecting us a whole lot more in the future. We all depend on each other to keep our finances in order...so lets start acting like thats what we want to do. No more talk...lets see action now..

Mustangman