Ruffer: Martians would be puzzled!

Not the most flattering portrait of Steve Russell.........

Careful - you might alienate him.

The trouble with irrational exuberance is that it makes real money while the mood lasts.

Unrealised returns may be commendable but what happens when the disastrous QE and other adventurous cooking of the books (derivatives etc) is finally outed? Listening to people like Bill Gross, Bill Bonner and a few Bill and Bens elsewhere I think there's every likelihood that markets are going to receive a wake up call within the next 18 months that'll make the 23% correction in '87 and the credit crunch to date look like a walk in the park. In the UK the regulator is continuing to disengage with market participants, effectively replacing those with market ability and knowledge with a box-ticking compliant 'wealth' brigade who seem to think that the conveyor belt is the road to utopia.

I suspect the men from Mars could do a better job than the current crazed incumbents but of course we'll never know as the UK faces its own armageddon with social issues as well as financial issues coming to a rather large head.

There has been so much interference from central bankers and regulators (all approved by the political landscape which itself is in a state of crisis) I wonder if anyone has worked out that when the market gets cornered there's usually nowhere to turn to. Expect massive capital erosion hereon and a much higher gold price with a few surprises along the way. Of course many of the 'wealth' brigade are channelling assets into the very areas that should have regulatory health warnings but when everyone is involved in the big lie the only thing to go LONG on are BLINKERS.

@CdeL87 - You are awake to the possibilities.

The agenda that is being pursued is well underway.

Thank you for your illuminating take on it..

Fundador; If you can call it real money anymore. I suppose "Fiat" is/was a Real Company...for a while.

CDL87 spot on, but markets will probably defy gravity and pass a few alien spacecraft on the way before crashing somewhere near Roswell.

It's 'real' if it appears on the performance reports - or you spend it.

I have been investing in equities since 1984, and put simply, I am now so confused as to what to do I am not doing anything.

I have a sizable portfolio of around 40 funds and trusts that is quite well diversified geographally and to some extent in asset allocation. If I sell what am I going to do with the proceeds?

I also have a good cash holding which I am now too scared to use to purchase more equities at todays frothy market prices. A negative return is being made on cash. Gold will probably go up but who knows for sure?

Governments are trying to avoid a deep global recession but in the process are storing up what might turn out to be massive inflation. If inflation is the only plausable way out of western debt, and I suspect it is, equities look the best bet but it is sometimes better to do nothing than to rush to follow the herd.

We can't write anything that might be construed as advice. To do so would be to commit a sanctionable offense. Welcome to the counter-intuitive world of C21 financial regulation.

If you want to share opinions on what to do, you could try one of the bulletin boards. Of course, I can't tell you what their addresses are.

We small investors have the great advantage of agility. We can trade pretty much everything with a couple of clicks online. If we bought stuff with market liquidity and small spreads we can get out quickly, so why not carry on making hay while the central banks' sun shines, and sell out a day or two into the next "correction" when it seems to have started?

Then yes, there is the problem of where to put the money - but that is the problem of success......

The bears are upset?