Not The Beginning of Economic Recovery
On Friday, many stock market pundits were whooping up the glory of a market that has made gains for six weeks running… even though the final count on Friday included a Dow Jones Industrials Average that was up less than 6 points after such erratic trading that one stock market daytrader commented that they felt ’seasick’.
Never mind that the Great Depression was heralded in by just such a run-up. Never mind that we are in the throws of dire economic circumstances where, if you carefully read the official Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, our unemployment is more like 20 percent, rather the 8 or 10 that is generally acknowledged by the media.
As a nation, we are sinking into what closely parallels clinical shock in a person’s body.
When a person has a serious trauma inflicted on their body, like an auto accident or a bullet wound, it is not uncommon for them to regain consciousness and not realize they have been severely compromised.
They are in the two-edged state of shock.
Clinical shock can take away the huge amount of pain from all wounds for a while, and saves blood by shunting it to the body’s core. These are good things. But shock can go too far, shut down too many systems, and kill the body when the wounds themselves would not have done so.
Classic example is an iron rail being dropped accidentally by railway workers. The rail is dense, and tends to bounce. Sometimes it hits a person in both shins. For some reason, this often sends a special message of injury to the brain, and it puts them into deep shock, often killing them… although they just have two broken bones, and not even the largest bones of the body.
It is good to try everything possible to keep a patient out of deep shock. In the above instance, it can save their lives. I have done this with people in severe auto accidents. Like when a cement mixer meets a fiberglass body Corvette.
But sometimes the damage is too severe. Body core wounds where whole organs are impacted and are shutting down. In these instances, the patient can be smiling and talking animatedly. And it is still good to treat for shock. But most likely, you will simply be helping them to find the road home.
I may be wrong. But I deeply and honestly see no reason to promise recovery to the relatives in this case. Too many systems have been compromised, and the treatment has been cynically medieval. The self interest of the rescuers was put in front of the patient’s best interests, and even now they run around with platitudes instead of effective palliatives.
We have spent too much money. We are now blindly printing more, which just adds to our problems. The IMF is in control of our financial destiny. The list of critical wounds goes on and on.
I’m very sorry, but I see no reason to buy stocks as an investment right now.
Bests to all.
