Japan

The earthquake which shook Japan is one of the biggest recorded in history. Aftershocks have been as big as the Northridge earthquake which did so much damage to California a few years ago.

Predictably, liberals and other humanity haters have come forth about how the Japanese people deserved the earthquake for building nuclear reactors. (One Yahoo poster went so far as to say Mother Earth was punishing the Japanese for mistreatment. Sheesh!)

People of good will around the world are sending aid and comfort to the Japanese. Be careful that your donations go through a known site. Unscrupulous people will try to profit from the goodwill of others by setting up fake charity scams. I haven't vetted all the sites yet, but you are safe making donation to the Red Cross. Yahoo suggested some organizations you can donate to, to help out Japan.

There is always prayer. God listens.

The ghastly earthquake in Japan has repercussions around the world.

The US stock market is already in correction mode, so investors will give a lot more weight to every scrap of negative news. It's truly not surprising that the apocalyptic images of destruction in Japan put US investors in a sour mood Monday. This has us just under Dow 12,000 once again.

Even gold is diving. This is also to be expected. The Japanese people delight in the metal. Now many are selling their gold in order to help family and friends recover. Such a large influx of "fresh" gold has temporarily depressed the world price.

From an economic perspective, these events have been generally good for the local economy and their major trade partners. How's that? This will require a big national stimulus plan to rebuild the destroyed areas of Japan. This puts a ton of fresh money in the economy, people back to work and a new sense of pride and purpose.

That bodes well for the lagging Japanese economy and major trade partners like the US, China and South Korea. Long story short, yesterday's negative view of these events will evolve into a positive over time.

Lets pray Japan will have not have another serious earthquake for centuries to come.

blue remarks from Zacks