Lost in the Shuffle

I've watched and listened to a lot of the financial media this week (too much, probably). Here's a few observations about things that have gotten lost in the shuffle. On the media itself, I have to give CNBC credit for breaking much of the big financial news of the week. As a trader, I should be glued to that channel. As an investor, if all I watched was CNBC, I'd be jumping out the window. That is why I am keeping an eye and ear on Bloomberg and Fox Business. Fox is talking about the the real economy (doing OK as a reality check) and Bloomberg has an international focus (doing worse than here).

That brings me to my next point. Lost in the shuffle is that international markets, especially emerging markets, are getting killed. Russia has shut down their stock markets. Closed, not operating. Russia made it worse with all of this Georgia nonsense. Pundits should not be surprised in light of this move and the situation in other markets that the price of gold is up $100 in the last two days. In the vast majority of the world, gold and other hard assets are the only option for those involved in the financial markets.

Lost in shuffle of all of the action by the Fed and Treasury is the culpability of Congress. I think it was summed up by Harry Reid yesterday when he said, "I don't know what to do". It was probably the most accurate statement he ever made. Instead of trying to legislate a solution, Congress is going on a break for the election. Hopefully what won't get lost in the shuffle is the cheap political trick that the Congressional leadership is engaged in. They need to act now to stem systemic financial risk by giving the government the tools to help fix the problem.

There is more, but I will end it here