indignation

It must have been optimism of the New Year that led to a 250-point jump in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Maybe it was Liza Minelli (shiver) ringing the closing bell.

Whatever the reason, don’t start spending you’re rediscovered retirement wealth. The climb out of this bear market is going to take a lot longer than the slide into it.

Pundits are so eager to find some shred of good economic news. We need it. We’ve been bombarded with how horrible the economy is.

Unfortunately, nothing is going to happen until banks loosen their purse strings and people start spending money again. But don’t look at me. I’m just as nervous as everyone else.

We may not get to see real recovery until a large capital spending program goes into effect. You small-government fans may not want to hear that, but the federal government is the only one with any cash to spend. As long as they don’t give it all away in loan guarantees and bailouts.

We’ll stay tuned.