Thursday, March 05, 2009
Let's hope Obama falls down and breaks his mouth (and his presidential pen)
Shut up
Shut up
Shut the **** up!
-- D.R.I., "Shut Up!"
There's an episode of The Andy Griffith Show in which Sheriff Andy Taylor says he hopes his caterwauling Deputy, Barney Fife, will "fall down and break his mouth." I can't help but think about that Andy Griffith whenever President B. Hussein Obama opens his mouth and the stock market takes another precipitious dive.
As this chart illustrates, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has shed close to 2,000 points since Obama took office:
So, why've so many investors been placing so many sell orders? Speaking as someone who has skin in the market game, I think I know.
Investors - that is, the folks who put up the capital which makes American capitalism function - are fearful that Obama's economic policies are leading the United States toward a repeat of the late 60s and 70s, an era of loose money, high taxes, and profligate government spending. In addition, investors are fearful that Obama's profligacy will inevitably revive another economic boogeyman from the 1970s: runaway inflation.
You know, it wouldn't be hard for Obama to immediately restore investor confidence. All he has to do is hold a press conference and swear that "nationalization" will be forever be a dirty word in his administration, propose a zero cap-gains tax rate for a minimum of two years, and put pressure on the Federal Reserve to return to a tight money regime.
With all that said, I'll close with a quote from Daniel Henniger:
Beyond the stock market, there is a reason why, despite much goodwill toward his presidency, the Obama response to the faltering economy has left many feeling undone. There isn't much in his plan to stir the national soul. It's about "sacrifice" now so that we can live for a future of small electric cars and windmills. This may move the Democratic Party's faith communities, but it cannot revive a great nation. If the Democrats want to embrace market failure as a basis for their ideology, let them have it. As politics, it's a downer.
Shut up
Shut the **** up!
-- D.R.I., "Shut Up!"
There's an episode of The Andy Griffith Show in which Sheriff Andy Taylor says he hopes his caterwauling Deputy, Barney Fife, will "fall down and break his mouth." I can't help but think about that Andy Griffith whenever President B. Hussein Obama opens his mouth and the stock market takes another precipitious dive.
As this chart illustrates, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has shed close to 2,000 points since Obama took office:
So, why've so many investors been placing so many sell orders? Speaking as someone who has skin in the market game, I think I know.
Investors - that is, the folks who put up the capital which makes American capitalism function - are fearful that Obama's economic policies are leading the United States toward a repeat of the late 60s and 70s, an era of loose money, high taxes, and profligate government spending. In addition, investors are fearful that Obama's profligacy will inevitably revive another economic boogeyman from the 1970s: runaway inflation.
You know, it wouldn't be hard for Obama to immediately restore investor confidence. All he has to do is hold a press conference and swear that "nationalization" will be forever be a dirty word in his administration, propose a zero cap-gains tax rate for a minimum of two years, and put pressure on the Federal Reserve to return to a tight money regime.
With all that said, I'll close with a quote from Daniel Henniger:
Beyond the stock market, there is a reason why, despite much goodwill toward his presidency, the Obama response to the faltering economy has left many feeling undone. There isn't much in his plan to stir the national soul. It's about "sacrifice" now so that we can live for a future of small electric cars and windmills. This may move the Democratic Party's faith communities, but it cannot revive a great nation. If the Democrats want to embrace market failure as a basis for their ideology, let them have it. As politics, it's a downer.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Thursday, March 05, 2009 
