Funny Money?

Anybody think this mortgage and money business is kinda scary? Banks have loaned money they basically don’t have to people and corporations that are marginally qualified to receive it. Chase buys Bear, Stearns, the third largest US bank, for $240 million dollars—which is a lot of money in our world, but the Bear, Stearns headquarters in Manhattan is valued at a billion dollars. Their stock closed at $30 on Friday and had been as much as $152 per share last year. And the Federal government has guaranteed $30billion to Chase to do the deal. On the weekend. It was so bad it couldn’t wait until Monday? What the hell does that mean?

Whether we own stocks directly for investments, IRA’s or 401K’s, or work for publicly traded companies, or have pension funds that invest in stocks, this has got to seem pretty freaky. The dollar is falling like lead against other currency. Oil is trading at $105 a gallon. So, are you freaked out? Is it time to start hiding money in the mattress?