>All I can say is that I hope some old sayings hold true:
>You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.
>Rahm Emanuel November 19, 2008
>
>A take off from Tony Curtis in the 1959 movie "Operation Petticoat" . "Where there is chaos there is opportunity"
>
>I bought a little more today - a "too big to fail" and a 2009 bailout recipient. There must be a bottom somewhere!

As a CFO of a publicly-traded company, I saw firsthand how managers regard shareholders.
I also was a managing direction in a Wall Street brokerage house and got an even closer look at how they regard people who buy stock.

Therefore, I'll never own a share of a publicly-traded company and I don't pay much attention to the ups and downs of equity markets.


For their retirement programs, I advised my children to follow my notion that preservation of capital is more important that return on capital.

That has played out well.
Our stars are some non-callable muni's with 5% coupons but we have some 3's and 2's in there as well.
We've never lost a dollar and are getting some decent returns.

I was born in the depression and I'll never forget the value of cash.

That said, I know that lots of people don't share my views and the people in Wall Street go home every night and say prayers of thanksgiving for that.