A curious "Quotation of the Day" from today's New York Times: "People are grieving. There was a death. Their money died." - BARBARA GOLDSMITH, a semiretired psychotherapist in Delray Beach, Fla.
For the story on this, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/business/13retired.html?th&emc=th or http://tinyurl.com/5z3zlz Or is this more relevant for courses on "Positive Psychology" when one reviews how seismic shifts in social, political, and/or economic conditions undermine optimistic expectations because such expectations were unreasonable to begin with (it is somewhat amusing to now hear on places like CNBC about how "foolish" people have been for the past several years in their consuming habits, especially with the expectation that the wealth represented by their home values or stock portfolios would increase without end even though economic reporters and advisors supported this view; "irrational exuberance" has now been replaced by "irrational pessimism"). One more topic: "The Death of Buy and Hold", that is, the strategy of buying stocks on a regular basis and, through the magic of dollar-cost averaging and continuous growth, after a long time one will have accumulated a significant nest egg (that is, if one didn't own shares of Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Indybank, Lehman, Fanne Mae, Fredde Mac, AIG, General Motors, Ford, and numerous businesses whose stock prices are hitting lows not seen in decades). For more, see: http://www.cnbc.com/id/27651174 Then again, perhaps one might like to prepare a course on "Behavioral Finance". One source might be the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Behavioral_Finance http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g902149109~db=all -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] P.S. As Meredith Whitney predicted, Citibank stock dropped below $10 yesterday. It is useful to remember that Citibank is one of the "annointed" (i.e., the small group of banks that the feds will not allow to fail or go bankrupt). --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
