Recession Briefing 11.10: Home Invaders Curbed

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

One of the few bright spots of the recession: The number of home burglaries is falling in some cities and towns. “With a lot more unemployed people, a lot more people are staying home, and they see more in their neighborhood,” said St. Louis County Sgt. Thomas Lasater. (Associated Press)

One bright spot of Friday’s gloomy jobs report was the surge in temporary hires. Companies are hiring more temps with plans to convert them into full-time workers if economic conditions improve. (Wall Street Journal)

The Dow gained more than 53 percent from its March trough while the S&P is up over 61 percent from its springtime low. That’s just not normal; it’s too much, too soon. (The Big Money)…

My Husband Loses Money on Stocks-And I Don’t Mind

My husband loves to play the stock market. He picks what he considers to be up-and-coming companies that few people have heard of yet, or undervalued blue chips, and buys up their shares. As he puts it, he likes feeling like he has an “ownership stake” in companies.

Sometimes, his strategy pays off. His initial investment of $5,900 more than doubled between 2005 and 2007. He bought Apple at $65 a share and watched it climb to $190. The start-up 24/7 RealMedia doubled and he sold it before it plunged. His oil companies enjoyed record profits. But he often loses big, too…

Out on the Street: Hope Springs Eternal

“Joe the Trader” chronicles his experiences with life after Wall Street.

On March 15th, in a remarkable show of transparency for a Federal Reserve governor, Ben Bernanke was interviewed on 60 Minutes. He sounded much like Chance the Gardener from Jerzy Kosinski’s Being There. In the classic novel and later movie, a simple gardener is released into Washington D.C. after the death of the man he has spent his life working for. Taken in by an advisor to the president who mistakes his name for the patrician sounding Chauncey Gardiner, Chance charms everyone with his botanical observations, which are misinterpreted as sage economic, financial and political allegories. In the spirit of the season, Chairman Bernanke said he saw signs of economic green shoots emerging. I sure hope that his comments were more valuable than a rambling gardener’s.

Than again, I’m not big on hoping. As a professional investor, I knew that if I was ever hoping, I was in trouble. It was my job to assess risk. It was my job to examine the merits of an investment, to know it’s pros and cons, and most importantly, to know when the facts had changed and I needed to get out of my position…