A wonderful 19th century writer offered observations in print from time to time. He remains one of our nation's best role models and minds, so accordingly the following economic insights and observations are offered, With Malice Toward None.
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First, why does it look like in this market all of good long plays have been bid-up to $47, and all short plays are trading near $8?
The above is an example of a market that's paradoxically, both overbought and oversold. I call it an "inverse Arianna Huffington market," after an observation she once offered at a dinner party. Arianna of HuffPo said, "Whenever I'm forced to make a choice between this or that, I choose this and that."
This a market in which one is left with a choice of neither this nor that.
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Given the roughly 40% sell-off from the Dow's high above 14,000, you might sense that the American public's attitude toward stocks is slightly cynical and jaded. At a fave, local restaurant on Manhattan's East Side Saturday night, the restaurant's owner remarked: "Stocks are getting so cheap these days, you know what was for sale on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) yesterday?"
"eBay!"
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And overheard one late afternoon last week while practicing putts on the putting green at a Larchmont, N.Y., golf course and country club:
Jim: How's you're portfolio, Dave? Have your stocks rebounded lately?
Dave: I don't have to worry about that. I don't own any stocks.
Jim: I thought you and your wife Carol inherited 20,000 or 25,000 shares of General Motors (NYSE: GM)?
Dave: Yeah we did, and as I said, we don't own any stocks.
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Never have so many economic and commercial issues revolved around public policy. Of course, there's always been an interplay between the private sector and public policy, but these past 18 months have registered the most private-public interconnections (and interventions) since the FDR era. And at the core of it, of course, is banking and the financial system: without functioning credit markets, most commercial endeavors -- corporate, residential, personal – are non-starters. Moreover, given the scope of the banking system's problems, it looks like the mixed capitalist United States is going to remain decidedly "more mixed capitalist" for at least the 3 to 5 years, and probably for longer.
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As a long-time New Yorker, I nevertheless still wonder, why do they call it rush hour in New York, when nothing moves?
(O.K., that last one was borrowed from the late, great comedian Alan King, may he rest in peace.)
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Have a good day ...
Financial Editor Joseph Lazzaro is based in New York.
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