The Dogs Have Their Day

As far as numbers go it's not a very interesting one. It's not the square of anything, or the cube either for that matter. It's not some kind of mystical ratio, or fibonaccian in any way. It's just one of those nice, round numbers that come up every now and then and just seem to tickle the senses and delight the mind. All you have to do is look at it, and think about it, and let it rattle around your brain for a while.

DOW 13,000.

Ahhhh, that's a nice number, and it's a nice, solid 13,000 too. Not some kind of 13,000 bubble, but a 13,000 with some real reasons behind it. The economy is growing, companies are earning money, and the DJIA is going higher. How's that for in-depth analysis.

Let me say this, though. Isn't it nice, every now and then, to be proved right. I'm talking now to all of you foolish investors out there who've suffered through the great collapses of the past and have had to endure the doubts of the more cautious souls around you. Today is your day, and I think it's important when a milestone like this is achieved to surf over to your online brokerage website, get your account summary on the screen, sit back, relax, and then let out a nice big grin of satisfaction. Why not, you earned it. Scan those big black numbers (at least I hope yours are black) and take some time to enjoy the moment.

Are you enjoying it? Good, and don't worry about what's going to happen tomorrow, or what you should do, or what you could have done better. Just forget all that, and give yourself a nice pat on the back because you did it. You decided to take some of your hard-earned money and invest at least a portion of it in the American economy, and, like it has so many times in the past, the great American economic engine has came through again, proving that this economy which is the envy of the entire world, just might have a future after all. So savor the good times, dear investor, at least for now.

Sure, there will be some profit-taking down the road, and we'll have the usual ups and downs, but if you're an investor and can't take delight in a day like today, then I don't know what to say. Why are you even in the market if you can't kick up your heels every now and then and shout out a little whoopee!

Oh well, enough of that. Just remember that there are people out there who hate people like you. Congressmen and Senators who find the very idea of investing in America's future to be odious and selfish, and when they see your risk-taking rewarded they gnash their teeth and strain at their leashes for a chance to tax some of your ill-gotten gains. Save? Invest? Why, that's the most unamerican thing they've ever heard of.

So just keep that in mind when the next election comes around. There'll be plenty of folks wanting to repeal the dividend and capital gains tax cuts, and they're gonna be asking for your vote. You done good today, but you best steer clear of them kind of folks. You tell 'em no thanks, you hear. You tell 'em that investing in America's future don't make us the enemy, and you tell 'em if instead of fattening their own wallets they was to invest a little more themselves, then maybe they'd understand that it weren't nothing to be ashamed of.