Hello and Welcome

This is the first entry for this blog -- welcome -- and going forward I will be commenting about macro and micro events, companies, market segments and other topics of interest for people playing the short side of the market. I am not a curmudgeon, or a perma-bear, I write a for fee newsletter, ChangeWave Shorts, that is itself agnostic about the market and is only concerned with making subscribers money. That being said, I have been down on the economy and the broader markets for many months and see no sustainable market recovery until there is an economic recovery; I see no economic recovery until the banking system recovers; and I see no recovery in the banking system without a $1.5-2.0 trillion dollar re-capitalization, in some form, and a recovery in the housing market, which I do not see until 2012 at the earliest. I have held these opinions since February of 2007.

My own work is predicated on three things: business and consumer surveys conducted by ChangeWave, an internal group part of Investorplace Media, the work of the few analysts I respect and who have been right the past three years; and my own analysis.

I look forward to your comments and insight -- but be mindful this is not a place to vent, or tout your positions. I review and approve all comments and contributors who are not respectful of the opportunity they are given here will be prohibited from posting commentary.

See you soon.