Buy and Hope? With All This Debt, No Way

Despite a preponderance of evidence, the markets continue to rely on the "hope" that Europe will solve its enormous financial issues, that the US will somehow miraculously begin to grow at or above GDP potential, and that the emerging markets will continue to grow by exporting to the developed world. There are those on Wall Street still pushing "buy and hold" indicating to clients that, based on forward earnings forecasts, the equity markets look cheap, as if those forward forecasts aren't subject to downward revisions. Thus, the "buy and hold" is really "buy and hope." There are no quick fixes to any of the economic problems so evident in a world awash in debt