Been a Wild Morning on the Markets

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When people walk up to you before the markets open in the US and tell you to make sure everything is is tip-top shape because the day is going to get rough right out of the gate, you tend to think they are either hoping it'll be that way, or worried it'll be that way. Today things went up, but it's been a very hectic day.

The SEC suspending short-selling on 799 companies make it very clear that the 'free market' isn't free right now. The government has no plans on letting big banks file or consolidate to the point that it'll have anti-trust issues to deal with. Nope. And that makes people more optimistic about the stocks, and things go up. But I have to wonder how long the Administration is going to let this happen before things start to go bad because of the intervention?

Nixon's price freeze... I was a kid and I still remember that. Politicians are not good at running markets - they are too heavy handed and want immediate results. Confidence takes longer than that to build, as it took longer than that to erode it.

I just wonder where things are going to end. Wild times.