OUR BI-POLAR STOCK MARKETS

The recent real estate and oil bubbles and the current panic-drive correction prove one thing: Investors have gone BI-POLAR!

Panics are the flip side of bubbles.

The bubble is the mania and the panic is the depression.

Both are a more than bit off from REALITY.

Let this post be your reality check.

Here's how it really is: Investors are selling stocks and buying gold and T-Bills because they are hedging their bets; it's a flight to safety.

The people buying stock from these panicky investors are NOT THE DUMMIES; the people buying into the market now are getting the BARGAINS.

When the mob is selling, that's when it's time FOR THE SMART INVESTOR to buy.

Wachovia is reportedly now trying to buy Morgan - because the panic has made Morgan stock cheap. ******UPDATE: YUP: THE SMART PEOPLE ARE BUYING:

The British mortgage lender HBOS said on Wednesday that it was in talks to be acquired by the Lloyds TSB Group after shares of HBOS collapsed this month on concerns that it might fail.

Lloyds, a bank based in London that is looking for ways to expand its mortgage business, envisions a purchase of HBOS as a way to profit from the falling valuations of financial services firms.

HBOS has lost about 43 percent of its market value over the last month, and its shares are now worth £7.7 billion ($13.9 billion). HBOS shares fell 19 percent, to £1.47, in London on Wednesday. The shares had been off as much as 52 percent earlier in the day before Lloyds made its interest known.

Today, gold went up by the largest amount ever in one day. Which means YESTERDAY was the time to buy, not tomorrow.

SO... if you have stocks: be patient! Look for equity bargains in the stock market and don't follow the stampede.

It's not like other stock markets around the globe - or other financial centers - are doing better at our expense. It's a global sell off. And actually, other countries aren't doing as well.

The sub-prime financial fiasco is a manageable crisis - especially over the long haul, which is how one MUST look at real estate investment.

And despite today's gusher upward, the barrel price of oil will be steadily coming down over the new several weeks and few months - to about $65-$75.

This decrease will do more people and more businesses more good than are hurt by the problems in the financial sector.

SO DON'T PANIC.

NOTE: It would be nice if the Democrats stopped talking as if this was the result of Bush and as if the entire US economy was fundamentally bad.

This constant negative talk makes things worse by feeding the panic.

IOW: HEY DEMS: STFU!