It depends on which financial blogs are saying these things.
Every blogger has their own bias, and half the trick of reading them is to figure out what their bias is. Then keep in mind that their comments are shaded with it.
For instance, gold bugs are sure that hyperinflation is around the corner and cash will be worthless. Mish hates public unions. Dr Housing Bubble keeps pointing out the signs that piles of foreclosures are going to come onto the market any time now. Karl Denninger is positive that the US’ debt load is going to blow up, possibly with riots in the streets following. The Archdruid argues that we are have passed peak oil, so it is time to prepare for a postindustrial world.
Many of their arguments made perfect sense to me over the past 3 years… only to see virtually none of their predictions come true yet. It seems the Wall-street/DC complex has succeeded in casting our economy in amber, preventing a crash of any sort– bank, stock/bond market, or housing prices. I’m starting to wonder if Adam Smith’s invisible hand, and the rest of him, are bound and gagged to a chair in a dark room somewhere.
The best I can do is hedge my bets around. I don’t invest in the markets any more, I don’t contribute more than a pittance to my 401(K) (because the only place that money goes is into the markets). I am stashing cash as fast as I can, some of it literally under my mattress, because even Union Bank or my credit union could go under, who knows. I am also buying physical silver (dimes). I don’t know if this is the right path but what else can I do? It’s all clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right. Wish I could buy a farm in the Midwest, then at least I’d have a place to grow food.
