New York Wall Street 2009

What will New York look like a year from now? The answer: bad and probably worse, and perhaps downright catastrophic. Three degrees of awful. The first step was passing the bank-bailout legislation. Now that it’s done—and if it didn’t get done we would have been looking at a guaranteed economic collapse—the critical issue will be presidential leadership. And while any president will be an improvement over the current one, there is a growing belief on Wall Street that Barack Obama has the capacity to lead us out of this wilderness while John McCain does not. I’ll go a step further: Obama is a recession. McCain is a depression. Although in my opinion, I think neither one will stop a freight train of financial destruction. The Dow below 7200? Perhaps. Your 401k, 50% off, your home 50% lower? Many of those without a nest egg will find themselves in foreclosure, personal bankruptcy, or other dire financial straits. Here is some morbid advice: Purchase a life insurance policy on a relative 65 years or younger. Make yourself the beneficiary. Make the payments. Cash out tax free when the inevitable happens. WAY Better than your 401k will ever be!