] It's an especially good time to be humble and cautious,
] and to listen to investing legends like John Templeton
] (who has "never been more bearish"), Bill Gross (from his
] latest commentary: "bonds (and stocks too) will be low
] return asset classes for the foreseeable future"), Marty
] Whitman, George Soros, and Warren Buffett (who said he's
] "not finding anything" in the stock market and has
] purchased foreign currencies for the first time in his
] career because of his concerns about the U.S. trade
] deficit).

Fool.com: A Scary Time for Stocks [Commentary] January 9, 2004

] I've done nothing basically because the environment is so
] binary (and all these trades are different expressions of
] the same view) that I feel no compunction to rush into
] anything, especially in the shorting-stocks department.
]
] I would rather be late to that party than early, since
] it's so clear to me that when stocks go down next time,
] they're going to go down for real. I anticipate that we
] will see a huge decline, with the major averages falling
] over 50%.

Yikes!

If 2004 goes bad, it will go really bad

] SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
] Greenspan said on Saturday that policymakers have been
] proven correct in their decision not to try to prick a
] 1990s stock-market bubble that subsequently broke on its
] own.
] "There appears to be enough evidence, at least
] tentatively, to conclude that our strategy of addressing
] the bubble's consequences rather than the bubble itself
] has been successful," Greenspan told the annual meeting
] of the American Economic Association in San Diego, Calif.

Greenspan Defends Fed Stock Bubble Policy

] NEW YORK (Reuters) - Although the Dow has closed above
] 10,000 11 times so far this month, it's likely to be
] years before the oldest and most widely watched U.S.
] market measure stays over the mark without falling back.
]
] "If there is a possible correlation, we can expect
] essentially a trading-range bound progression that could
] indeed last up to 20 years, or toward the years 2015-20,"
] said Alan Shaw, a technical analyst at Smith Barney, in a
] recent study.

Get ready for a boring economy.

Dow 10,000 May Be Ceiling for Years, Patterns Show

] Attorneys general and securities regulators in more than a
] dozen U.S. states are investigating possible cases of
] wrongdoing among mutual fund companies, and a number will
] file suits in coming weeks, three government officials
] tell Forbes. The actions could involve criminal as well
] as civil actions, the sources say.

Forbes.com: States To Move Against Mutual Funds

] In the near future, fleets of small airplanes may
] traverse our skies monitoring traffic conditions,
] collecting data from environmental sensors, and scoping
] out forest fires.

These toy companies are probably going to get a huge boost when this sort of thing takes off.

Invest in companies that make model aircraft parts...

] U.S. stock markets shot up early Friday, bolstered by
] news of a surprise merger proposal by Oracle, as well as
] a monthly employment report that was considered
] unsurprising and largely positive.

U.S. stocks rally early Friday - Jun. 6, 2003

,----
| VANCOUVER - A top White House drug policy official is threatening
| retaliation from the U.S. if Canada relaxes its laws against marijuana
| possession.
|
| David Murray, right-hand man to U.S. "drug czar" John Walters, says he
| doesn't want to tread on another country's sovereignty, but warned
| there would be consequences if Canada proceeds with a plan to
| decriminalize the possession of marijuana.
`----

I mentioned this earlier. Changing attitudes in liberal Canada toward pot are going to generate political responses from the US, which will slow the pace of trade. As Canada is our largest trading partner, the drag on the economy could be significant. This may be an important forward looking economic risk. Of course, its going to be a big game of chicken. Are Canada's liberal attitudes more willful then America's interest in controlling pot? Are either of these wills stronger then their respective domestic business interests? If this continues to develop there, at the least, will be a lot to learn about the character of these societies. At the most we could prolong our economic slowdown.

(BTW, the American's arguements are a little silly. Pot creates crime because its illegal. If you are engaged in an illegal economic activity you must also engage in (essentially) violent crime because you have to provide for the security of your own property. It all goes with the territory. Once you have people who are willing to deal drugs and willing to provide the security needed to do so, you are going to generate people who are willing to commit other crimes as well. Gangs are a response to a security vaccum. Government is supposed to have a monopoly the use of force. If we were serious about that in poor communities, where one finds drugs and associated crime, we'd have it. Its not like we can't afford it. We just don't really care.)

CBC News: U.S. warns Canada against easing pot laws

] Federal investigators have arrested an enigmatic Wall
] Street wiz on insider-trading charges -- and incredibly,
] he claims to be a time-traveler from the year 2256!

I don't think he's lying.

'TIME-TRAVELER' BUSTED FOR INSIDER TRADING

] "We've seen the bond market, particularly in the belly
] of the curve, rally on this news. A lot of people had
] thought the economy had turned the corner and this brings
] us back to reality. Manufacturing is mired in this no
] growth area and I think that's going to continue to be
] the case for a while."

Yuck... Bad news on a rainy monday.

Forbes.com: INSTANT VIEW-ISM Nov factory index at 49.2, still shrinking