Where did all the money go?

When we listen to many commentators talk about the current recession, they make it sound like trillions of dollars have just disappeared.

I know about fifty percent of our savings has disappeared.

But I began to wonder where it went and what might get it back into circulation.

Ah, the commentators say that it is just gone and will not come back in any direct way. We will have to work our way out of this recession, we are told.

Okay, I will help do that the best I can.

But it's not like we are completely broke. I know we have our income and that we spend all of it just getting by. We are avoiding tapping our savings, of course, because that's all we have for the future our good health will let us live in!

Here's my question, what did the one who sold the stocks when they were at their highest point do with that money?

Think about it, the wise ones who didn't just listen to CNBC but knew what was really going on got out with lots of cash while the getting was good. Where did that money go?

To the banks caught up in the derivitives, hedge funds, and mixed batches of mortgages and other paper? Not likely.

Probably, they held on to it in some form of savings. And they are holding on to it, and like most of us, waiting until we can be confident that our investments are growing again.

Somehow I think that CitiCorp, BoA, Goldman Sachs, and some of the other huge financial institutions have been holding out for what they could get by pushing forward figures that supported their "need" for recapitalization from the public trough. When they were being looked at more closely, suddenly, they are able to report they made a little more profit than expected in January and February.

That may be pretty cynical. The actual money that has begun to move back into the market may be private individuals. After all, if our resources of labor, raw materials, transportation systems, and communications are largely unaffected by the recession, then that capital can provide grounds for expecting profit from their investing.

No one in their right mind will take my ideas here seriously. After all, I'm not a CNBC, Wall Street Journal, or Washington Post financial reporter.