Three Things to Consider When Looking at the Stock Market
As the stock market continues to gyrate, we wonder where is it headed. For some insight we have to look at three things: jobs, housing and consumer purchases.
The first is jobs, with the jobless rate hovering around 10 percent. This is never a good sign because it keeps a stranglehold on new purchases by the consumer. If the consumer is not working,then they're not buying.
Our second indicator is housing. Housing is in the dumps, with new purchases slowing down. Again, everything goes back to the consumer making money. Housing will continue to be on this path until existing inventory is bought up and new construction begins.
Then we have the third indicator, and that's consumer spending. Again we have to look at the consumer and see: do they have disposable income? That answer is easy. No money coming in, means no money going out, unless they want to take on debt.
So living in a capitalist society is a great thing. Well it is, as long as growth is taking place. We need to concentrate less on cutting everything to the bone and more on growth. Its a funny thing, when everyone has money to spend - things seem a lot better. So how do we get back on track? We should be advocating growing businesses. Let's make money available to small businesses to put Americans back to work. My feeling is, until businesses start growing again we will continue to be in this malaise.
We don't want to become a country where doom and gloom is the rallying cry for our politicians. We want to go in the opposite direction and create a better place in this country for our children to live. This means opportunities in the workplace, health care and excellent schools. A country which people around the world wants to emulate and seek out.
Every proposal coming out of Washington today should be positive and growth- oriented. We are now finally seeing a proposal for small businesses. This should have been enacted long ago. Where does it say that because someone owns a business, they become the enemy? What I look at and judge people on is their ability to create something from nothing. The ability to do that is something really special.
So let's try and invent the next Google, or maybe an Apple Computer. Or maybe not shoot as high - just open a neighborhood store that everyone likes. From there, the stock market will take care of itself.
Follow Technorati