"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear." HP Lovecraft.

"I steer my bark with hope in the head, leaving fear astern. My hopes indeed sometimes fail, but not oftener than the forebodings of the gloomy. " Thomas Jefferson

Fear is rampant.

Watching the Television Media last night I came away with three persistent messages.

1. The world is coming to an end.
2. A group of people think that Obama is the devil.
3. Another group of people think that McCain is the devil.

There is a famous quote from the '70s that my Father liked: "The medium is the message," by Marshal McLuhan.

I think it has become starkly evident that the current medium is fear-mongering and the message is, not surprisingly, fear.

Things are bad. They've been bad for over a year. We should never have allowed anybody to get a mortgage on anything at any rate with nothing down and no collateral. That statement seems self-evident. But, where was the media when the problem was brewing? Were they warning against the obvious excesses of that course? By and large the answer is no! In fact, if we flash back to that time one would have gotten the impression that anyone who wasn't taking advantage of nothing-down, interest only, financing to buy seven condos under construction in Las Vegas was just plain stupid.

The media is good at reporting what just happened and absolutely atrocious at predicting the future. Attempting to use them as a guide is as useful as using a list of directions for a trip we made last month to attempt to go someplace new.

LET ME ADDRESS ANOTHER FEAR.

A handful of people have sent me e-mails or called asking how safe their assets are at Schwab. I think this is a good question and one that is probably on other people's minds. Perhaps it is on yours.

Here is the answer to that question for anyone who is wondering.

YOUR ASSETS AT SCHWAB ARE INSURED:

Your assets at Schwab are insured by two insurance policies. One of those is Federal. One is from Lloyds of London.

Both insure you against Schwab's default.

The federal policy is from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation which was chartered by Congress. This policy insurances your assets up to $500,000.

The second policy is from Lloyds of London and provides protection up to $600,000,000

It is important to note that these policies protect you against loss in the event that Schwab were to go into default or declare bankruptcy. They also protect you if someone at, or associated with, Schwab was to attempt to steal your assets.

It does not protect you against normal market risk.

One final thought. Through all of this credit crisis, the discount borkerage firms like Schwab and Scottrade have not been mentioned negatively. They do not engage in the type of investment banking and trading activities that got others into trouble. So, I do not expect any problems at Schwab.