The Economic Recession: Why the Stock Market Isn't a Good Idea

Sometimes I just don't know where the time goes... well, I do. If you haven't figured it out yet, I've got a lot of health problems. Most of my time has been spent in doctor's offices or traveling to them.

This piece is (possibly) one in a series of pieces looking at different sides of the economic recession. I know that the Recession has been extensively covered by the news media, but I feel that they have left out or chosen to ignore some very important factors that have greatly contributed to it.

Today's topic? The stock market.

Now, for those of you that don't know, here's the best explanation of the stock market I could put together: A stock is the capital (money) raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest. (equity) Now here's one of the crazy things: A stock actually has two factors that determine price: What you can buy it for (Your bid), and what you can sell it for. (Your ask) Both are the "real price," because buyers and sellers each have a price in mind. When they match, a sale is made. Basically, you want to buy low, sell high. Could they make it any more confusing?

Anyways, one of the big problems with this approach is the fact that the stock buyer's emotions can run the stock up or down. Take GM for example. News comes out that it's not doing well and may fail. What's the stock buyer's first thought? Sell, sell, sell! This drives down the cost of GM's stock, and adds to the hysteria that GM may fail. This drives more people to sell their stocks. Quite the vicious cycle.

The other main problem with the stock market is the fact that it is used as an icon of economic stability. How on earth can it be used as a basis for economic stability if it's run by emotions? Has anyone looked at some long term numbers rather than short term? Or have all of these people gone absolutely mad?

-Meredith

Questions or Comments? Contact purplepineappletown@hotmail.com

It's been a long time... but we're back!

Hello Everyone! I'm happy to announce that Purple Pineapple Town is back after the long hiatus! I've had a bad 6 months with my health and had to focus on the necessary things. I'm very happy announce though that I am back, with (hopefully) more regular postings, as I've got a lot of topics I want to cover. I've also got big plans as far as the layout and design of the site goes, so you're in for a bit of a surprise! I'd like to thank the readers that have stuck around, I really appreciate it. Hopefully I can pay you back a bit with some interesting content.

My friends at Crew Creative Advertising asked me to put up a piece on a new show coming up on Animal Planet, called River Monsters. The details:

The show tackles such legends as: Did a large catfish attack a teenager in a German Lake? Did a school of piranha eat flesh down to the bone of a busload of passengers that crashed in an Amazonian river? Host, biologist, and extreme angler Jeremy Wade travels worldwide to solve these freshwater mysteries, to debunk these myths and to track down these harrowing tales. Each Sunday, he'll come face-to-face with fear and try to understand these mysterious predators with a taste for human flesh, putting his life on the line to find truly monster sized fish while globetrotting through Germany, Australia, Brazil, and even the state of Texas. River Monsters premieres Sunday, April 5 at 10PM (ET/PT) and 9pm central on Animal Planet.

It seems like it could be interesting- I wonder if he'll take on the Loch Ness monster mystery? Here's a sneak preview picture- that's a huge fish!

Keep an eye out for new content and a new site design!

-Mer