The Worst That Can Happen

I'm not a market or economic prognosticator. I tend to invest based on established trends - I don't call market tops or bottoms. I'm willing to give up a little on the ends to maintain a safe and conservative portfolio.

That said, Big Jake at Seeking Alpha has ten very dire predictions for the future - here's three to get you started.

Prediction One: The twenty-five-year equities bubble pops in 2009.
Prediction Two: Public pensions and 401k holders wiped out.
Prediction Three: Millions of retirees will be left virtually penniless.

I'm definitely not as negative as Jake, but I still found this an interesting article and one every conservative investor should read. It could happen. Hell, anything could happen.

Read More: The Worst Case Scenario
Related: Investing in a Depression

The Housing Crisis Blame Game

From Capitalism Magazine By Thomas Sowell

After virtually every disaster created by Beltway politicians you can hear the sound of feet scurrying for cover in Washington, see fingers pointing in every direction away from Washington, and watch all sorts of scapegoats hauled up before Congressional committees to be denounced on television for the disasters created by members of the committee who are lecturing them.

The word repeated endlessly in these political charades is "deregulation." The idea is that it was a lack of government supervision which allowed "greed" in the private sector to lead the nation into crises that only our Beltway saviors can solve.

What utter rubbish this all is can be found by checking the record of how government regulators were precisely the ones who imposed lower mortgage lending standards - and it was members of Congress (of both parties) and who pushed the regulators, the banks and the mortgage-buying giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into accepting risky mortgages, in the name of "affordable housing" and more home ownership.

Read More: The Housing Crisis Blame Game
Read The Book: The Housing Boom and Bust
Related: Facts on the Financial Crisis
Related: Fannie and Freddie Meltdown

Investing in a Depression

What should you invest in during a depression?... Hats!

I stole this joke (and picture) from a comment at Free Republic.