Friday, February 24, 2012

There Are Bigger Numbers Than Dow 13,000

The DJIA is flirting with 13,000 after a few years of resetting closer to what I believe should be its fair market value (hint: a lot lower!).  There are plenty of numbers far larger than that one.  Our planet is about 4.5 billion years old, with 7 billion people living on it, and it's approximately 93 million miles from the Sun.  Okay, I'm goofing off here.

The big numbers we should really concern ourselves with as investors are the federal government's unfunded liabilities, which totaled over $61 trillion in 2011.  That's the figure that will ultimately drive the global bond market away from Treasuries and any other dollar-denominated fixed income investment.  I don't listen to market commentators who urge the investing public not to miss the next bull market into Dow 13,000.

Full disclosure:  No position in Treasuries at this time.