This post is a guest contribution by Bennet Sedacca*, President of Atlantic Advisors Asset Management.

The Blob is a morass of financial intervention that has eaten every bad financial deal too large to let die on its own. To understand the Blob, we must first understand how and why the Blob was formed in the first place.

The evolution of the Credit Crisis began in the mid 1990’s when the money supply began to grow at unprecedented rates. As the money supply grew dramatically, stock prices then began their ascent to the bubble highs of 2000.

Once the stock market bubble was popped in 2000 and stocks began to plummet, it seems that the Greenspan-led Federal

This post is a guest contribution by Bennet Sedacca*, President of Atlantic Advisors Asset Management.

It is often said that “hope is a poor roadmap to success”. Hoping is as useful in investing as it is in nearly every other activity that I can think of. I must admit that I have found myself hoping that an investment or trade gone badly would come back. I must also admit that I cannot recall a time when I have been rewarded with success just because I hoped for it. That is also why I have learned to take losses when they are still manageable - as they say, “good traders know how to take gains, but great traders know how to take losses”.

I am not saying that

This post is a guest contribution by Bennet Sedacca*, President of Atlantic Advisors Asset Management

The question I get asked the most lately is, “How on Earth did we get into this mess in the first place?” The answer, plain and simple, is greed.

I have stated numerous times that markets world-wide and throughout the centuries are dominated by individuals that cannot seem to shake the two simplest of emotions – fear and greed. Markets tend to overshoot in both directions as investors experience these emotions, which is why I live by the mantra, “buy from the fearful and sell to the greedy.”

I can trace the evolution of this greed, during my lifetime,

As I am travelling in Europe at the moment (see “Another town, another train…”), this week’s edition of “Words from the Wise” does not provide the customary review of the financial markets’ movements and economic statistics. Given time constraints, today I will only share with you a number of video clips in lieu of excerpts from news items and quotes from market commentators. Quite a few of the video items include links to related articles for those who prefer the written word.

Firstly, as we are awaiting word on the bail-out plan, a very topical quote from Jim Welsh (Welsh Money Management): “We will be told that the Federal Reserve and

This post is a guest contribution by Bennet Sedacca*, President of Atlantic Advisors Asset Management

You know what they say, the more things change, the more things stay the same.

I like to point out “bubble comparison charts” because it goes to show that human beings are an emotional bunch. I like to call the parabolic moves upwards in stocks and indices, “1-800-GET-ME-IN”. Whether it is tulip bulbs in the 1700’s or the NASDAQ in the late 1990’s, the ugly emotion of greed sets in once a really big move in the price of a security gets going. This always makes me laugh because when I think about people buying truly important assets like a car or a house, they are always looking for a

This post is a guest contribution by Bennet Sedacca*, President of Atlantic Advisors Asset Management

Dead Man Walking – Originally, a phrase in a poem by Thomas Hardy in 1909, but later in a work of non-fiction by Sister Helen Prejean, A Roman catholic nun and one of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille. Prejean later wrote ‘Dead Man Walking’, which became a hit movie in 1995. The title comes from the traditional exclamation “dead man walking, dead man walking here” used by prison guards as the condemned are led to their execution.

Death Row – A term that refers to the section of a prison that houses individuals awaiting execution. It is also used to refer to the state