Double A's are better suited to bra sizes, maybe shoe widths, than to America's S&P rating. Denmark has a triple A rating and universal health care; the USA has lost its AAA and doesn't have universal health care. Triple A is a whole lot better than the measly AA+ S&P assigned America. China has already suggested that its yuan become the world currency standard.
Those tidy 401K's had recovered and maybe a little better than simply recovered from the '08 tumble, in no small part brought on by S&P rating Lehman's triple A and last week's 7% downfall in the stock market is really deja vu in the worst possible way.
The acrimony in the world over economic issues is fulminating and headlines are filled with attention-grabbing scary words. The truth is that if you had sold your stock portfolio off at the bottom, and many did, you'd have lost half your money. If you held, you got it all back and maybe more - Apple fell to a low of about 86.00 and recently was over 405.00. True that it's been thrown back to 362.00 in the global panic selloff last week, but considering it has actually more cash in the bank than the US Treasury, chances are that it will recover, perhaps more quickly than the US Dollar. And if you have spare cash, it would probably be good to begin piecing into Apple and a few boring stocks with nice dividends. Click
here for the full list and of course find out everything about the company.
How to get through this crisis?
Vote because the disharmonious antics in Washington are yelling that they cannot resolve issues without partisanship. It's a mess. But know that it really is different this time. Companies, about 70% of the stock market, have gorgeous balance sheets with tons of cash and profits, and Hermes and Apple continue to sell everything they make. Not so much for Walmart, Sears or Gap but that's simply because of disappointing everything, not the economy.
Living well why the headlines roll away is a good idea. Dire sensationalism sells and keeps life edgy. Chances are the world markets will be churning and working out the static. Bernie Madoff is not around anymore and the SEC is picking off the lesser Ponzi-schemers like whack-a-mole. Sweating nervously while global economies do ping pong with your 401K will
not last forever. It'll get better. There will never be a sale on Birkins, sigh.
