Well, it is getting a little interesting. That which cannot continue, will not: and the world economy hit a wall yesterday. This got the elite to notice: for they tend to shuffle money and leverage the markets, treating the tradesmen and workers as if commodities. But when it gets unstable or disconnected from what is happening in the real economy, then you get corrections.
As in yesterday.
Wall St tumbled dramatically on opening, but has since recovered. The NZX 50 lost 2.49% yesterday but damage not as great as elsewhere because of high proportion of dividend-paying stocks.
U.S. investors got a serious jolt overnight when the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 1,000 points minutes after the market opened in a wave of selling that circled the globe after a historic plunge in Chinese stocks.
Though the declines eased significantly as the morning went on, the market plunge sent a shiver of fear through Americans with retirement accounts or saving to buy a home that the bull market is over.
Most recent numbers show the Dow Jones Industrial Average off 3.28 per cent, the S&P 500 down 3.66 per cent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 3.38 per cent.
Again, this is expected. It is not something to fear. For the elite have been regulating society in their favour for years. The increased regulations about hiring and firing, the pollution standards, the health and safety rules… require that you have an infrastructure within your company that deal with such. In an organization of a few thousand that is acceptable. But for a sole trader, that his hours of paperwork, that he cannot gain recompense for.
Preparare l'hashtag #BlackTuesday. #WallStreet chiude in profondo rosso: Dow a -3,55%, #Nasdaq giù del 3,82% pic.twitter.com/JogazHarXf
— I Vostri Soldi (@IVostriSoldi) August 24, 2015
Nothing new here. Nothing to worry about. These corrections occur, and at that time we can see some of the justice of the ALmighty, as evildoers fall, and nations crumble: at present there are three sick economies dragging everyone down: China, which has gamed its numbers for too long and has been in recession now for two years (which is why Australia, and other commodity makers, are struggling), the EU, which cannot control its borders and has too much debt, and the USA, which has caught the same disease.
Moreover there is a biblical passage for today that is appropriate. Now that I have my readings lined up with the days.
Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD.
In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.
He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.
Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
I’ve lived through stock corrections before. And I have been out of the market for a while: there are more important things in one’s life than technical analysis or financial modeling. The field changes: what is seen as the same will not always be so.
The market will still work. But those who have relied on regulations, those who are rentiers, clipping mandated tickets to allow projects to proceed, may find that they are no longer needed. For a poor economy cannot afford injustice.
Flo is wrong and right: it is indeed a time to pray, and reform. Or the storm could take us down, particularly if our finances are fragile. But in Christ we are held and secure: and that is what we should pray for more.
