Holy Dow!

We live in interesting times, indeed.

I've always learned that you play the stock market for the long haul. That there will be ups and downs, but over a multi-year time horizon, the stocks do well and always trend upwards. Over these past few months, as I've watched our funds lose more and more money, I've had to repeat that mantra over and over: "We're in this for the long haul. We're in this for the long haul."

But the end doesn't yet seem in sight. Another "tumble" in the Dow this morning (I love how analysts use that word, like it's Humpty Dumpty sitting on some wall), falling more than 700 points before regaining 300 of those points.

I'm a little sketchy about the details of the bailout plan. One thing I want to ensure, though, is that government doesn't become too involved in our economy. Government involvement in healthcare, surely. Government involvement in the environment, possibly. Government involvement in the market, definitely not. Our markets to very well and the model is good. Of course, it seems like there are things that precipitated this fallout and maybe there needs to be more regulation of some sort, but we start to walk on some thin ice. I know it's unfounded, but I have these visions of our country becoming this communist state and everything that we once held dear and treasured are memories of the past.

A bit gloomy, I know. The strange thing is, no one I know has felt the effects of this economic downturn. We still go on living our lives as normal, driving to work, putting away money into investments. I'm in Kansas City on a project as I type. Nothing has really changed.

I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.