Is It Just Me?

Woke up a bit earlier this am, with a long drive to make to a friend's funeral.  Tim was a kind generous soul who left us way too soon.

Turned on the tube, to check weather while making coffee, and what do I see but Jim Cramer with Matt Lauer on The Today Show telling the world they oughta' be buying stocks, '...cuz 'we're gonna have a big recovery next year!', and 'All the banks that are gonna fail have failed already', and 'The Crash was last year. Anybody not buying now is missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime!'.

I was just stunned.  How could any responsible public figure be doing this?

The PE of the S&P 500 is about 129, Mish tells us.

There are still some 460 banks on the 'troubled' list, and the foreclosure wave is just now hitting commercial real estate and higher-end homes. I lose count of how many abandoned new strip malls I've driven by.  This morning, I drove by a vacant one, with another under construction 500 yards down the road.  (This has to be the definition of optimism!)

The real unemployment rate is 20% or so.

The states and counties are sucking wind for revenue to keep the schools open, including my little county here in Tennessee.

Yes, when times are bad, there are some opportunities to invest, but given the sea-change in the culture and economy, having some 'guru' on a national morning show urging small investors to buy-buy-buy before it's too late is just, well...

Is it just me?

Am I just being overly grumpy?

Don't these people understand that real lives, and families, are at stake here?

Have they no sense of shame, of compassion, of prudence as they talk to millions of people on the air?

Is it just me?