Isn’t in interesting how things work in the world?  How’s that for an overly broad, general statement.  Keeping that in mind, let’s take a look at Chrysler and see why it definitely applies here.

 

Take a trip with me in to the past.  In a climate of media overload, what we now consider to be the “distant past” might be considered last week but I want you to go even further back.  Before modern technology and back when GM stock actually traded in the double digits.  You know, the fall of 2008 and in to 2009.

 

The story of the automaker woes was just starting to take shape and before long, something that had been a problem for quite a long time found it’s place in the mainstream and financial media stories. Mix the automakers with the stories of reliving the Great Depression and the stage is set.

 

If one of the big three automakers goes bankrupt, the American economy is going to explode.  There will be no telling what the ultimate effects will be.  Hundreds of thousands more without jobs, all the suppliers will fail and it will probably cause the other “big 2” to fail because the suppliers will have to close their doors and won’t be able to supply parts to the remaining automakers.  In short, financial apocalypse! 

 

Do you remember reading anything about that?  Interesting how things work isn’t it?  I will admit that I was sucked in to some degree but on the other hand, I was intrigued by many of those same people who were also writing about the resilience of the American economy.  Still today, you don’t have to look very hard to find a nicely penned patriotic article, op-ed, or speech underscored with the sounds of John Phillip Sousa talking about how great America is and how we have built the best functioning economic system in the world and even through these tough economic times, America will once again be the Mecca; the lighthouse; the shining star of the financial world.  (But oddly, not if an automaker goes bankrupt.)

 

Now, reset your time machine for April 30^th, 2009.  The unthinkable happened. The apocalypse is coming because Chrysler failed, right?  Let’s examine what really happened on the day of the bankruptcy.  The headline was barely in larger type let alone one of those big articles that makes the newspaper a collector’s item.  It barely spent any time as a top headline on CNBC.com and on the following morning, it was already buried.  And did I mention that the Dow was down 17.60 off its triple digit gains?  Isn’t in interesting how things work in the world?

 

I guess it proves the point that you buy the rumor and sell the story.  What was supposed to be a financial meltdown has turned out to be a economic non-issue.  Of course we have to give credit to some people.  The federal government did a much better job with this than they did with Lehman Brothers and the market is much healthier this time around and can probably withstand big news like this much more easily than it could before.  We’ve become much more used to bad news.

 

Still, isn’t in interesting how things work in the world?  Don’t listen to everything you hear and remember that the job of the media is to not only inform but also gain readers.  No conspiracy theory here.  Just a reminder not to put all of your stock (pardon the pun) in to what somebody else says.