Ban Historical Rationalization

I had to laugh, in sympathy, with this rant by Paul Kedrosky. Media and analysts have a pathetic habit of comparing the current market and economic downturn to those in the past. This is what we expect from sports commentators (e. g. how does the Sens on-the-road losses compare to...). In sports that at least makes some sense since the rules of the game were much the same decades ago so there is some semblance of respectability in the comparisons.

It is not so of messier real-world matters like the economy. It is different this time. The causes are different, the economic structures and instruments are different, peoples' investing, purchasing and saving behaviours are different, and the politics are different. I, too, harped on this once before but it bears some repeating: there is always a first time, and, it is untrue that there there is nothing new under the sun.

This does not mean that it's all gloom and doom. I am reasonably optimistic about investing prospects in 2009. There are lots of great deals out there, provided you don't expect to rake in big profits inside of a short time span.