LOL i found this thread in my bookmarked pages

So lets review then after one year.

When i made this post, the DJI was on its way down and dropping fast. The DJI Average was sitting right at 8,635.41 when this post was made on December 2, 2008. pessimists and negativity were everywhere... bad news poured in on all fronts.

It would continue to tumble through the next 4 months... bottoming out in early March 2009 at just over 6,500!

However... what we have seen since is an upward trend however slight.

the Dow closed on December 31st sits at 10,428

I'm no expert, but i cant see any reason looming that would prevent this slow and steady climb from continuing in the near future.

There may be a major recession on, but on the whole this is a normal thing... excrement happens in the free market economy.

But... as a nation we have strong local economies. For example... my home town here in east texas has numerous construction sites, new businesses are popping up, and virtually NO unused office or retail space and the local economy is quite strong.

the same happened to this area and many other areas during the "great depression"... the local economy in several instances stood on substantially stronger footing than the national economy.

anyhow... my .02 worth

:D

It's been a pretty bad decade overall for people who claim that the market economy system will bring wealth to everyone. Personally I wouldn't have known that a mere 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet system there'd be this much trouble with the system of the 'west'.

I think the recession is fading too, but I have no way of knowing it. I am happy my Ford stock hit $10 a share last week, up from the $1.49 I paid for it in Nov 2008... now comes the decision to hold or sell :timeout: Always a challenge to the investor who readily admits he does not know what he is doing. :haha: I don't really have the money until I sell.

Charts!

It looks like Texas is mirroring the U.S. as a whole in employment growth:

http://www.dallasfed.org/research/up...ges/0908c1.gif

The unemployment rate in Texas is well behind that of the U.S. as a whole. It remains to be seen if this downtick will be sustained - I believe it will

http://www.dallasfed.org/research/up...ges/0908c2.gif

There continues to be an increase in demand of single family homes, as evidenced by the 5 month moving average of building permits:

http://www.dallasfed.org/research/up...ges/0908c3.gif

We are still not completely out of the woods yet, as delinquencies and foreclosures skyrocket. I believe this is strongly correlated to the fact that people have been out of work for a long time - folks have eaten through their savings and investments in order to stay in the house and now are running out.

http://www.dallasfed.org/research/up...ges/0908c5.gif

other countries in the world are experiencing a recovery, added to the weak dollar, this is stimulating export demand

http://www.dallasfed.org/research/up...ges/0908c6.gif

Things are still in the crapper here and look to be that way for a while yet.

^^
yup, there's rumblings of more job losses this new year here. Can't say I'm at all surprised tbh.

Me neither......I've always admired that sig :DL

Yup :DL it seems just as appropriate now as it did when I made it, perhaps even more so...

http://www.slate.com/id/2240282/

Invest in Israeli company operating in Israel. . . .:88) not because you're a supporter of a zionist movement but because the Israelis are gonna see some profits