When something is a fad, buy those selling it - not the fad.

Everyone buying dot-com stocks?
- Buy the banksters selling the crap.

Everyone buying Apple laptop & desktop?
- Buy the company making the hugely profitable, relatively low tech,
high marketing items.

Case in point buying Apple circa 1989 when the Macintosh II was about
the same as a basic car (6700) and a similar spec'd out PC was about
5x less (1400). I recall a company at the time spent 850,000 on
Macintosh II and I wonder if they wish they had spent 150,000 on PCs
and put 700,000 on AAPL shares. The value now would be quite
hilarious.

Diversify your risk, which means a very broad global asset portfolio
because the word "Billion" is becoming pocket change to the lips of
politicians and bankers alike - which is usually just before life
savings end up buying a loaf of bread. I think the optimistic view of
TARP / Euro-TARP / UK-OOPS being cleared is by 2030 but most expect by
2040. Unfortunately that excludes the cost of social security &
medical for rising numbers of retirees which makes reducing deficits
virtually impossible. That in turn means they get to shoot currencies,
watch the euro fall apart, germany's weak currency advantage
protecting its manufacturing vanish (nice USA plan in here somewhere),
and eventually USA tell China where it can stick its Treasury bills
"come and collect it... just not everyone at once ok".