Trying to understand…

The weather just lately is neither good nor is it bad, it is in fact somewhere in between. There may not be many flowers in the garden at present, but the variations in colour are there to be seen. My winter favourites are the Dogwoods, where I have tall red and yellow stemmed varieties, two colours that are guaranteed to brighten up everything, even the dullest day.

As for flowers themselves, there are always the violets and pansies that seem to bloom no matter how harsh the weather conditions are, but beyond these two, I have very little else that’s flowering right now.

If only the British economy could be guaranteed to give us the same rich rewards as we can achieve with flowering plants. No matter how much of an investment you pour into brightening up the garden, it’s seldom that you lose much, but more often than anything, you frequently gain so much more than you ever seem to lose from your investment.

Now, if there are any of you out there that could enlighten me on the following subject, I would be eternally grateful. I’m going to talk about stocks, shares and the FT 100. Oh, and by the way, this subject would be way beyond the comprehension of our dear Froggy, so, this is also for him.

I’m trying my best to get to grips with the British economy and why it is that the FT 100 loses so much of its value, even when a company appears to be doing well financially. Why is it that these market traders will reduce the value of any given company, even when it is apparently doing well and making a profit? After all, some of the FT listed companies will ride out this downturn in the economy regardless of what anyone else thinks. Supermarket sales are a point in mind, and the Greggs bakery business seems to be another. Let’s face it, everyone needs to eat…

Now, you may tell me that the market reflects what’s happening within the economy in general, fair enough. But then many people will wonder why almost all of the FT 100 shares lost ground quite heavily when the economy took its initial downturn late on last year, and yet not every one of these companies lost the same percentage of their business during this period. So, why the disparity between the true market values and what really happened?

It appears to me that there is only one true way of regaining the lost ground within the economy, and this is to have these market traders put their thinking caps on and to take a good look at a company’s worth for what it really is. Oh! And I wish that they’d stop crapping in their pants every time shares are not going where they want them to go. Start acting responsible and damned well earn these bonuses you reward yourselves with. These are real people’s lives you lot are playing with, and not some tin pot game you’ve just dreamed up to play with.

I see that the media still insists on acting as a scaremonger where our economy is concerned. Everyone should be aware by now that it is the working classes who will be most affected by the media harping on about the economic crisis, not the better off. Any person earning 2k a week won’t even be touched by this downturn, and if you are, you should damned well be ashamed of yourself. I’m a pensioner and I’ve still to receive the bonus and increase promised to those like me by the Labour party last November.

Well, I’ve done enough soapbox shouting for another week, so, let’s hope that everything is looking a whole lot rosier by the time I return for my next blog.

Bye for now,

Bob, standing in for Froggy