Stability Not Size

 So the market seems to be recovering - what does that mean to you or me?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average seems to be hovering in the low to mid 1200's for about the past year.
This is almost double it's value from the crash on March 6, 2009 (6469 - down from a high of 14164 on March 6, 2007).
Are you really twice as well off as you were three years ago?
Is the economy doing twice as well?

All the numbers we view on the nightly news have no meaning to the common man.
If you would have invested in Chevron (up 15%) or American Express (up 16%) you would be a lot better off than if you would have invested in Hewlett Packard (down 16%) or Bank of America (down 26%).
The numbers are intended to give an overall picture of the economy - but they don't.

Since deregulation - most companies invest (gamble) the money contributed to their pension funds on the stocks of other companies through mutual funds and other instruments created to 'create wealth' from the large sums of money workers invest in their 401k's.
Since the money is not reinvested in their own improvement, the performance of another company can effect the bottom line of a company which may be be doing well in it's own industry.
This was necessary because these companies are mandated to 'create wealth' even if there is none.
Which is why the housing bubble burst - how many times did banks expect to sell the same house, and to whom?
Since they could could only sell a house once - banks created instruments which permitted them to sell the same house (at a profit) over and over to each other until someone decided they had had enough and decided to collect.
Since the homes were then valued by banks at multiples of their real value - the market collapsed.

 "Economic Growth" seems to be what politicians say we need to avert another economic meltdown.
But this is foolish.
We need stability not growth.

What good is a newer and bigger home if it cannot stand?
It's time we evaluate our debts and assets and begin to take a look at our real economic positions.
Sure, many workers will lose their jobs - but were those jobs necessary to begin with?
How many government jobs could be cut?
How many people will have to downgrade their lifestyles in order to live within their means?
While making 50k, having to do real labor, driving only one or two cars and living in a smaller home which he could actually afford may sound bad to someone making 100k but still in debt - it is what is needed.
We would all be much better off if we only bought that which we could afford to pay for instead of us buying what we could afford to finance.