I appreciate
your cause, "an non-bias" approach to politics. I
teach school right now (6th - 8th grade english), but do some
freelance writing. One thing on my mind (no doubt
spawned by the chat surrounding the upcoming election) is
the distance at which most are kept from politics. That
is, the way politics is presented in the media, in all
of its forms, seems to alienate one from it.
Our political
system and particularly those involved in politics have become
so overexposed and glamorized that the whole "politic"
of people/ government seems
to be lost. This is no longer (it seems to me)
a government for the people, but a media circus for clowns. For
me, I would rather not participate in such a circus. I
think many people feel this way; alienated from the government
and politics/ political figures. It no longer feels
like we, the people, have much of a say or at the very least,
that no one really
listens.
Kevin-Suwanee,
Georgia
Whaaaassssup! The now
common greeting mimicked from the Budweiser commercial can
be belched in awe of the stock market of current and the last
decade. This market has broken all preconceived boundaries
and left everyone guessing. No longer do traditional rules
of economics or historical analysis ring true. And the beat
goes on in the NASDAQ of 2000.
Friday, April 15th,
what the hell happened? Actually, all week what went wrong?
The NASDAQ market lost 25% of its total market value. Why?
What made these days so different from all of the rest when
the NASDAQ was surging daily? Information technologies ARE
definitely the wave of the future. Right?
As we all now, the
reason the market, any market, rises or falls is because of
demand and there is a direct relationship between the two.
Therefore, if the market falls, then there has been a sell
off, and nothing has changed but investor confidence- which
maybe the largest catalyst in the market. The market is a
puppet ad the investors its master.
You will here analysts
constantly warning of speculative bubbles. What is a bubble?
This is a situation in which the price of stocks seem to unprecedented.
That is, when their price is not reflected by the typical
aspects of a strong stock such as: price to earnings ratios,
profits, market share, etc. Companies like EBAY and Amazon
with tremendous market values and high stock prices which
have not yet turn one cent of a profit could be called victims
of investor speculation causing bubbles. Why does it matter?
The only real situation that I see it mattering is if people
worry too much and there is a freak sell off- similar to what
we are experiencing now.
Also fueling these
fears and contributing to the problem is a phenomenon called
margin buying. What is buying on margin? This is when investors
are borrowing money from banks in order to invest in the market.
Is it bad? Well, like everything else in economics, it depends,
and, once again, it is investors, which the market is dependent.
When there are large sell offs people who hold investments
on margin get scared and, they too, sell in order to avoid
a compounded debt for gambling wrong on margin funds.
This is a situation
all too similar to early 1930’s. I think that is what has
got people this time. What they don’t realize is that the
growth we are experiencing now is far different from then.
Instead of an expansion based on profits from a war now over,
our expansion is based upon a new revolution in the way society
interact, communicate and live. Moreover, a revolution that
has just begun. Short-term profit seekers may take some large
hits but the long haul investor will see large increases in
their market shares.
And I think Fed chair
Alan Greenspan said it best on C-Span Friday April 15 when
he explained technology has greatly increased the velocity
which information can flow, adding economic value to the market
and, thus, enhancing wealth accumulation, but we cannot allow
it to happen too fast. Because of the ready availability of
information like real time quotes and on-line trading, technology
is unbundling risks of investments. However, he went on to
say that there is no sign of an approaching end to the financial
possibilities in these markets. But, it might just be growing
too fast, or inflationary, which seemed to further spark investor
fear.
So everyone just sit
tight! Don’t panic! And let’s all ride this thing into millennial
fortune.
-
- Jack Barnes-Orlando,
Florida
Election
2000 Editorials 