Time (travel) is on My Side

While we were home a few weeks ago, my dad was watching Fox News (because that's what he does) and they were talking about the stock market.  It was the day that the stock market went over the 13,000 mark for just a quick second.  I was half listening to what they were talking about, mainly they focused on what stocks have shown the best return over the past one, five, and ten years.  It was interesting, and it got me thinking:  what if I could go back in time.  It just kind of came to me and I don't know why.

Now, when you think about going back in time, there is always the question of what to do.  Where do you go?  Who do you meet?  There are also the questions like is there going to be a butterfly effect?  Will what I do in the past make a difference to the future?  There's always someone that'll say 'I'd go back and stop [fill in the blank] from happening.'  If you go back and kill Adolph Hitler, will World War Two still happen?  If you go back and stop the gunmen on the grassy knoll (yup, that just happened) from killing John Kennedy, does the United States get out of Vietnam much earlier than we did?  All kinds of options for time travelers.  Personally, I think everything that has happened in history has happened for a reason and even if you try to stop it, it will still happen.  Like Judgement Day in the 'Terminator' movie series.  It's going to happen no matter how hard you try to stop it.  Or, do you do something to benefit yourself and your family?

That's the way to go.  Take your knowledge of something like the stock market and make some bank.  I know that there are all kinds of variables here.  Finding a stock broker, getting the money, etc. etc.  Let's put those variables out of the equation.  Let's just pretend that you can play the stock market without a stock broker.  And let's say you have one thousand dollars in your back pocket.  What do you do?  Most people could just say, 'take that one thousand dollars and throw it all at Apple or IBM and walk away.'  And that makes sense, jump back to 2012 and live a decent life in luxury.  Or do you take your chance and really play the market.  Watch the rises and falls of individual stocks.  Do you buy stock in Enron and cash out months before their world bottoms out?  Do you wait for the recent economic crash to happen and buy a bunch of cheap stocks and wait for two or three years when they have recovered a little bit?  You know, spend a little here a little there over a large spread and then collect it all for a profit? 

There are so many things that you can do.  I don't claim to know much of anything about the stock market or financial thinking in general.  All I know is that if I were to go back in time and bring some money to play the stock market, I would defiantly watch for the high water marks and cash out when I can.  When I know I should. 

Michigan, the economy, and sports

For all the bad that has happened to Michigan, and Detroit specifically, since the down turn in the economy there has been one bright light for the state.  Sports.  Not all sports though.  The Lions, for example, were horrid.  But they did get a supposed savior this year in Matthew Stafford (let's hope he pans out).  

Sports won't bring jobs.  Sports won't put food on the table.  Sports won't better your life.  What sports will do, however, is raise your spirits if only for a little bit.  Sports will allow you to forget your worries and the harsh reality in the fact that the state is in trouble financially.  One thing that I thought I would never see is the auto industry get into trouble, but it happened and Detroit is just going to have to recover as best it can.  The stock market and the economy are both slowly starting to turn around.  It is time for people to make the best of a bad situation and wait.  

Sports teams in the state of Michigan have been doing well this year.  The WNBA team, the Detroit Shock, won another title last year.  They are coached by legendary Bad Boy, Bill Laimbeer.  The Wings are one win away from another Stanley Cup.  The Tigers are playing well a quarter of the way through the season (they are in first place in the Central Division).  The Pistons made it too the playoffs, although they were disposed of rather quickly by Cleveland.  The Michigan State Spartans made it all the way to the final game of the NCAA men's basketball tournament before losing to UNC.  

I know that when Detroit teams are on national television, the commentators bring up the trouble that Detroit has run into.  A lot.  What I don't know is if the players on all these teams think about the situation.  I am sure it is hard to think about other people's problems when they make millions of dollars a year, but if they do and try to win one for the city, that is great.  I listened to an interview with Jim Leyland (manager of the Detroit Tigers) recently, and a question was asked about the team and wether or not they are aware of the situation in the city.  Now I am paraphrasing here, but Leyland basically said that the players are aware of the problems the city and the state are having and they are playing this season for them (the city and state).  They want people to come to Comerica Park and forget about their situation, if only for a couple of hours.  If the Detroit Tigers are playing every game this year with the thought of helping people forget about the shit storm that is the everyday economy, I am more on board than ever.  

The night is darkest just before the dawn Michigan.  

economy and gasoline

I have yet to figure out the relationship between the economy and gas.  As the bottom fell out of the stock market recently, the gas prices dropped.  When the stock market was up up up, so was the price of gas.  Shouldn't it be the other way around?  As the economy struggles, wouldn't the price of gas go up?  Does that not make sense?  Or is it because no one has money, the gas prices go down.  This is probably why I would never pass an economics class (be it high school or college).  

The only reason I was thinking about this today is that gas is below two dollars a gallon today.  It went down to one dollar and ninety nine cents.  I filled up yesterday at two o' five thinking that as the stock market rallied earlier this week, gas prices would go back up again.  Guess not.  It went down again.  What the hell?  

I just don't want to think about it too much.  It hurts my head.