What Berkshire's downgrade by Moody's Really Tells Us
So Moody's downgraded Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, down from Aaa ("triple A"). The "world's greatest investor" couldn't escape the turmoil. Can we?
We can't prevent our stock holdings from declining in value. Duh...I think we've all seen that. Your best bet was simply not owning any stocks - or at least being mostly out of the market and in cash. But that's all water under the bridge.
And we can't isolate ourselves from the current crisis. But here's the danger: we get used to it. We feel the turmoil and think it's "normal." It's not normal. Stay awake. You need to remain vigilant.
It's not so much that we can or can't escape the turmoil at this point. We're in it. It's a question of understanding what's coming up.
Your portfolio of stocks and the value of your home won't just snap back in a few months. Wall Street, as we've known it for decades, has disappeared. (If you're looking for a job in the financial services industry, good luck; it's a shrinking pie.) In fact, the whole way of living that so many of us got used to is gone. Yes, a new world will rise from the ashes. What will it look like?
The world of easy credit has passed into history. "Shop 'till you drop" will sound like a quaint phrase of a former age. Or maybe it will sound like what it really was: a sign of a society "out of whack." Spending will give way to saving.
I just read that Manhattan's "kept women" - the mistresses of the Wall Street and corporate high rollers - no longer live as they once did. Feel sorry for them? In years gone by, they would have been called "courtesans" - a high-fallutin' word for prostitute. What will they be called now?
This is just the tip of the iceberg. It's time to put on our thinking caps and think about what's lying in wait for us right around the corner.
We can't prevent our stock holdings from declining in value. Duh...I think we've all seen that. Your best bet was simply not owning any stocks - or at least being mostly out of the market and in cash. But that's all water under the bridge.
And we can't isolate ourselves from the current crisis. But here's the danger: we get used to it. We feel the turmoil and think it's "normal." It's not normal. Stay awake. You need to remain vigilant.
It's not so much that we can or can't escape the turmoil at this point. We're in it. It's a question of understanding what's coming up.
Your portfolio of stocks and the value of your home won't just snap back in a few months. Wall Street, as we've known it for decades, has disappeared. (If you're looking for a job in the financial services industry, good luck; it's a shrinking pie.) In fact, the whole way of living that so many of us got used to is gone. Yes, a new world will rise from the ashes. What will it look like?
The world of easy credit has passed into history. "Shop 'till you drop" will sound like a quaint phrase of a former age. Or maybe it will sound like what it really was: a sign of a society "out of whack." Spending will give way to saving.
I just read that Manhattan's "kept women" - the mistresses of the Wall Street and corporate high rollers - no longer live as they once did. Feel sorry for them? In years gone by, they would have been called "courtesans" - a high-fallutin' word for prostitute. What will they be called now?
This is just the tip of the iceberg. It's time to put on our thinking caps and think about what's lying in wait for us right around the corner.
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