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continued, especially all the overrated/overpaid/ ivy league analyst/managers/journalists, etc. the the housing started to show signs of weakness and trouble dec 05. 12 months latter, it's 07 (Recession). I'm a IT Restructing Specialist. From a high level, things don't look to bad til i go through all elements which then things begin to turn around. you guys really blow my mind. Don go grab a cup of mocha, and talk a walk out on main street. you may also want to open your eyes, too.

OMG...I agree with scditmarsen, you go first Don. As an investor, I go by fundamental and technical analysis. But there are other factors at play that affect how the market and consumer reacts, i.e., national/international politics, policies, and just general scandals. Hollywood (entertainment) industry is just now feeling the effects. Any change that the clueless Treasury (personally, they should put Blair in charge)makes don't take affect til 9-12 months down the road. Also taking into account that 1st quarter is not even here yet. Don't forget the Maddoff and the Dreier case has yet to fully unfold. We haven't even seen the full spectrum of greed yet. Now that money is tight, consumers are now at a point where funds are being drawn for various accounts. The SEC is going to start having a field day after christmas and beginning of 1st quarter. They will know with fund managers can't answer to the calling of the investors. Also, no one has even mentioned it yet, especially ...(Read more of this comment)all of you overrated/overpaid/ivy league analysts, professors, managers, journalist, etc. but the housing collapsed started near the end of Dec 05, but the overall market overlooked that small little blip. 12months down the road, it started. Hence, recession since 07. I specialise in IT restructuring, from a high level overview, most of the time things look easy to the non experienced. Til, i start digging deeper and gathering info, it gets worse and worse, til finally I completely cover all avenues, then things take an upswing. Don you may want to get a cup of mocha and take a walk out into main street. Also may want to open your eyes too.(Show less of this comment)

Good article, even the pro's make mistakes. There is a huge unwinding taking place and we are in a vicious cycle of unemployment, mortgage defaults & deflation which all feed on each other. I personally do not see an end to this cycle. Makes me think maybe equities are not going to be the place to be but real assets such as commodities. Very interesting to say the least.

Don Luskin is one of those regular CNBC pundits who can be as much of a clueless cheerleader for the Stock Market when it is tanking as Larry Kudlow, when the Dow is at any price, be it 14,000, 12,000, 10,000, or 8,000... At one point, after most investors' portfolios have been decimated, their perennially optimistic view about the market going up will inevitably pan out, at which point they will claim victory and say to the gullible viewers or readers, who in the meantime have seen much of their portfolio wiped out: 'See, I told you so...' To add insult to injury, they often choose to overlook the fact that for the most part they were dead wrong, and that they have led many investors astray by dishing out soundbites that serve their own bullish positions... One wonders who is paying these guys and inviting them to mouth off their idiotic views on TV, or what is the rationale for having their views gracing these financial pages. Yes, the best and the brightest that Luskin caters to...(Read more of this comment) are the same ones who couldn't figure out the financial mess that Wall Street deregulation or clueless regulations and financial engineers were unleashing upon the market, and instead were joining the chorus of cheerleaders led by the likes of Larry Kudlow, Don Luskin and other bright people of their ilk... And some of the same best and brightest must have lost their shirt in the latest $50 billion scam that another Wall Street crook has hoisted upon them... 'Best and brightest,' who is Don Luskin kidding? How much longer are we to be fooled by that 'best and brightest' self-serving investment cabal, while all the same paying them top money to mouth off their usual inanities? (Show less of this comment)

Good article, Don. I agree with you and am buying - high quality names like P&G, JNJ, 3M - with solid dividends, so I have at least something coming in.

You go first, Don. Historical standards, with regard to stock prices, recession length, or market behavior, don't apply here...we're in uncharted territory and the reality is nobody has a clue as to what's going to happen with this market. I just know, as an individual investor, that if the pros are too afraid to invest, that's good enough for me. Their livelihood, as well as their personal investments, may be at stake but most of these guys are multimillionaires, not average Joes who have seen 50+% of their relatively meager savings and retirement disappear in the past few months. So, they do this for a living and know how to make money, if there is money to be made, and if they don't have the guts to invest, neither do I. Like I said, Don, after you.

Posted by: jim on Sadly, No!

How on Earth can this ass-whuppin’ post not even get 100 comments while those other sluttier posts get way more? These threads are being rigged … by ACORN! Wake Up sheeple!!1!1!@!

Posted by: Shklovsky on Sadly, No!

My god, did you drop some Sugarhill AND 9353 in the same column? A man of parts!

Posted by: Dr.BDH on Sadly, No!

Sadly, there are people who read Smart Money for financial advice. It’s not like Luskin only wrote for The Washington Times or The Weekly Standard. “Smart” Money put this idiot in print month after excruciatingly wrong month. And that was after he revealed what an ignorant fool he was by going up against Krugman and being completely discredited. I recommend you submit this to Dumb Monkey as a cover story on how not to report on the economy. They owe to their readers.

Posted by: tatateeta on Sadly, No!

Wow! This guy Luskin is a whack job.

Posted by: sukabi on Sadly, No!

after watching a clip of the CNBC financial brain trust interviewing Roubini and Nassim the other day, I wasn’t sure if your portrayal of Luskins “advice” was satire or not… looks like you took a serious look at what passes for “expert advice”… you sir, have done the country a service.

Posted by: dex on Sadly, No!

this post? this post, genius. thank you for the genius post.

Posted by: protected static on Sadly, No!

Too bad you can't ask the Chicago City Comptroller Coalition Provisional Authority about that… WordPress willing, FTFY Just remember: pallets of bills, totally unaccounted for. C-5s full of cash.

Posted by: int argc on Sadly, No!

Is this the same Donald Luskin that engaged in a several-years-long war of attrition with the Light Blue Satan, resulting in several hilariously futile attempts to out the notorious Atrios? Because if he is the same person, I didn’t think, until reading this post, that he could be more thoroughly punked. Bravo.

Posted by: Daverz on Sadly, No!

The only way I can explain Luskin getting a forum anywhere is that there really is a conspiracy to keep you poor and stupid.

Posted by: Gore Vidal Sassoon on Sadly, No!

It’ll be a recession in a couple of months when they can pin it on Obama with a straight face.

Posted by: OB-GYN Kenobi on Sadly, No!

I suspect that if they have been listening to him. they likely can't afford the rope. I believe justme has won the thread.

Posted by: henry lewis on Sadly, No!

I dunno about this bold thing. Every comment looks like a stern e-mail.

Posted by: ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© on Sadly, No!

owlbear1 said, February 11, 2009 at 12:06 Who the f!*k is Luskin's audience? Why haven't they lynched him yet?His audience is the usual dupes of the Church of Free Market Triumphalism.

Posted by: jim on Sadly, No!

Yeah, he’s dead-on about this being a great time to buy stocks - if you get the ones with all the ornate lettering & fancy-ass graphics, I hear they make real pretty wallpaper. Donald Luskin is the Bill Kristol of Wall Street!

Posted by: owlbear1 on Sadly, No!

Who the f!*k is Luskin’s audience? Why haven’t they lynched him yet?

Posted by: justme on Sadly, No!

how about rainbow toe socks and short pants.I’d prefer not to have to remove my eyes with an impromptu spork. I suppose the double wetsuit reference goes here.

Posted by: Lesley on Sadly, No!

I'd love to see this clown in stocks. If stocks aren’t possible, how about rainbow toe socks and short pants. Every day for the rest of his life.

Posted by: Lesley on Sadly, No!

I wish I could be wrong so often and still keep my job. Heh, that would be sweet. Try the Securities Exchange Commission. They prize incompetence almost as much as moral bankruptcy.

Posted by: Snorghagen on Sadly, No!

Holy s!*t. Somebody pays this guy to write columns?Amazing, isn’t it? And he gets away with it, year after year. He’s turned being a moron into a lucrative career.

Posted by: Smut Clyde on Sadly, No!

In fact, you'd think it had fallen into a boiling hot volcano. That's how empty you'd think that glass was. Empty? You call that ‘empty’? When I were a lad, we had glasses that were so empty that we had to hold them under a running tap for 20 minutes just to get the sides wet. But you didn’t hear us complaining, mainly because our throats were too dry.

Posted by: justme on Sadly, No!

I’d love to see this clown in stocks. I think we really need to bring those back. The wooden ones with holes for the wrists and neck, that is. If we as a nation invested in that sort of stocks, heavily, like lining the National Mall with them, and made them the punishment for being a media asshat who is always wrong, we’d be waaaaaayyyyyyy better off. Oh, yeah. They get to be the sentence for douchenozzle politicians, too. Baskets of rotting veggies for all! Sigh. Sweet reverie, a man can dream, can he not?

Posted by: CNBC on Sadly, No!

Based on this story, I’m investing in d!*k commodities. Oh wait, we already have a surplus. Maybe if we package Kudlow with Deutsch we can make a couple of worthless commodities look like a good deal. I better get the team on this. Bulls Away!

Posted by: M. Bouffant on Sadly, No!

Corporate executive is another possibility.

Posted by: Grace Nearing on Sadly, No!

I wish I could be wrong so often and still keep my job. Heh, that would be sweet. Well, the trick is to pick a job for which there is no pesky oversight board like, say, the American Bar Association; or one in which you may inadvertently kill your clients, like medicine, and then have to face litigious family members; or rat catcher, where if you kick back too long the rats start nibbling your toes; or bus driver or airplane pilot, where your miscalculations not only are going to get you maimed or killed but also wind up on the evening news. So that pretty much leaves politician and media personality.

Posted by: M. Bouffant on Sadly, No!

As long as Mr. Luskin is getting his commission, the best time to buy stock is now, as well as tomorrow, also.