While taking some much needed, although probably not well deserved, R&R, I’ve been marveling at the lengths in which economists, investment managers and the financial pundits have stepped forward to voice their opinions, and defend the accuracy of their prognostications about the financial markets.

Mind you, I’m not paying all that much attention to the meat of their theses, but after viewing all of the conflicting ideas currently out there in print, financial TV and on the web, I’ve come to one all encompassing conclusion…

No one has a [bleep] clue what’s going to happen.

A few examples of what I’m talking about…

Case #1: Inflation vs. deflation

Person 1: Our biggest problem is inflation! (Buy gold!!!)

Person 2: No! It’s deflation. (Buy Treasury Bonds!!!)

Person 3: You fools! We’re simply deleveraging so expect cheaper goods. (And the government to spend a trillion bucks to slow it down as much as possible.)

[sounds of rabble rabble rabble]

Case #2: Government Stimulus Junkies vs. National Debt Hawks

Person 1: We need to stop spending and reduce our national debt.

Person 2: No, we need to inflate our way out of debt to pay for 30+ years of living beyond our means.

Person 3: Hello? We need to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% to redistribute the wealth.

Person 4: Are you crazy? We need another trillion in government stimulus.

[sounds of rabble rabble rabble]

I suppose all this is to be expected since everyone has their two cents to give and conflicting opinions are what makes a market.

But as I talked with a random couple today about how they felt about the financial markets (usually what happens when I tell folks I’m an equities trader), I’m kind of thinking dropping all this conflicting financial knowledge on an unknowing and non-jargon speaking public could actually be more harmful than helpful. Too much information leads to information overload, which then leads to doing nothing… but staying the present course.