Thursday, October 09, 2008

Irrational Exuberance Goes Both Ways

Everyone knows what a bubble is with inflated stock or asset values, but what is it called when it goes the other way?

My company's stock is now at enterprise value - raw assets minus is debt. This means that investors are assigning no future value to the company. I work in sales and know that that is, well, bullshit. I got so many customers and opportunities it isn't even funny. And for my opportunities to dry up every person on the planet would have to get rid of their cellphone. And that isn't going to happen, even in a downward economic environment.

My guess is that a lot of companies out there are way oversold. But people are not dealing rationally at this point. We're basically in a panic situation where people are selling no matter what.

I think government efforts at this point are counter-productive. The daily "we are going to fix this" program is just making things worse, making investors worry even more that things are worse than they think. I think the government at this point needs to step back, let the emotion run out, and give it some time. Let the panic abate.

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