I reflect upon this past year in finance and American life in general with great sadness. Much of my emotions are coming from taking a hard look at myself. I take great pride in not being naive and understanding how the whole finance game and politics are played. The events that have unfolded have shown me just how naive I am. I never imagined some of the things that have happened with both finance and politics (as much as those two can be separated these days!) I’ve tried to use this blog to help expose some of the truths and realities that I felt were hidden behind the lies, spin and fantasies. I’ve warned about things that I thought were going to happen in the future …not to be prophetic, but just on the hopes that someone else may benefit from the caution. And while I’ve gotten more than a few of those things right, it’s humbling to realize how only partially right they were. It’s like predicting in May that NY City would have snow falling in July…only to be right but have the snow turn into a blizzard with two feet of icy powder. In light of this introspection, I’ve decided to hold back on my desire to constantly flash warning signals. It makes no sense to me to do that. To be successful, I’d have to take my normal concerns and then to try and be right, I’d have to take them to extreme levels that I would never expect to be possible.  Our situation and certain “leaders” have proven that things I thought were impossible have become realities.  One of the key motivations for me to write this blog was the desire to protect against the dangers of being naive, that is no longer achievable.