Investing Tips

Recently, a friend asked me whether I was worried about the current financial meltdown in the U.S. and what I was going to invest in. I asked him, "How crazy do you want to get?" I have been a pessimist about the U.S. financial markets for several years for many, many reasons. The truth is that we really know little about what is actually going on until after-the-fact, and we can't control any of it anyway. We can do only two things: keep our savings and retirement accounts from shrinking further, and start planning how to recoup our losses fast.

Having been a stock and commodity broker, I know that the markets are resilient. I also know that the U.S. Government has wangled large numbers of us into retirement savings plans that literally infuse billions into the stock market every pay day, if we are lucky enough to be salaried. So, this is not the time to panic. This is the time to buy! I am looking at companies that have either been pounded below market value, or are producing something tangible that will be in high demand in the future: water purification, life sciences, anything that Warren Buffet buys! Of course, we are pawns one way or another right now, but we need to find ways to squeeze out some yields before taxes and inflation sap our savings away.

I remain thoroughly ashamed that my generation would let greed and regulatory complacency erode the capitalistic system that took centuries to evolve and that I was trotted out to promote around the world as a State Department economic officer. The betrayal of the public trust is totally criminal. If I were living in another time and place, I would join those dusting off the guillotine and cheering while the heads roll.