Sell-offs a sign Obama should refocus
For most of us, it is way too early to assess President Barack Obama's performance in office. But not so on Wall Street, where investors are voting with their wallets.
Since Obama took office on Jan. 20, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped a heart-stopping 20 percent. That is not exactly a ringing declaration of confidence, either in Obama's leadership or ability or in the likelihood that his policies will help pull the country out of the recession.
No wonder many Obama supporters are desperately trying to label the current economic crisis as the Bush recession, as if Obama hasn't contributed in any way to our plight. After all, they say, the president has only been in office a short time. Of course, that doesn't stop Obama supporters from crediting him for what they think he is doing right. Obama himself recently tried to play down the significance of the Dow plunge by comparing stock averages to public opinion polls, since they both go up and down.
That sort of rhetoric might satisfy the hyperpartisans in the Democratic Party, but it's just not accurate or fair. Clearly, the market is trying to tell us something with its sell-off, and the message could be that Obama needs to concentrate on fixing the economy and stop trying to fix every one of the country's problems at once.
Especially when the administration is short-handed. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner hasn't had any top deputies confirmed by the Senate, and two candidates for top Treasury Department jobs, Annette Nazareth and Caroline Atkinson, this week abruptly withdrew their names from consideration.
Add to this lingering questions about whether the Obama administration will soon push through another banking bailout, and some oddsmakers on Wall Street already are betting that Geithner could join the ranks of the unemployed by year's end. That is never a good sign.
30 comments:
first we elect a president who has zero experience managing anything
then we act surprised when he stumbles on setting priorities
give the guy a break, he has his training wheels on
he'll do better after he learns the ropes
eat me,
I don't mind anyone learning the ropes, but he's liable to hang us all with the loose ends.
"...trying to label the current economic crisis as the Bush recession..."
What's the most amazing is how 2 minutes after the 1st plane struck the first tower, BUSH owned the WH and ALL the problems and blame. It was all on him, his watch, his to own. Hang the fact that you couldn't have planned and executed those attacks in less than 8 months. (in fact the plans had been in the offing for several years, and flags were raised) Plus, GWB was NOT in the line of decision making AT ALL at a federal level, before he was elected. He had NO federal power or access to giving advice to anyone in Clinton's WH.
Now comes The One. He was an ELECTED Senator in the country, he had decision making votes in the Senate, but somehow he's absolved of ANY prior responsibility for ANY economic decisions made before noon on January 21st.
What a crock.
the AP sez Obama is doing a bad job on the economy
read all about it
Looks the Obama is losing some of his MSM adoration
i was being sarcastic
Sarcasm doesn't change the fact that he's going to hog tie us.
So the failure of Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman brothers, IndyMac, the housing market, Countrywide, the near-failure of AIG, the 6000 point drop in the DOW, ALL that occurred last year, did that indicate we needed to make a change in direction?
Sure did. That's why we TROUNCED republicans in November!
"...did that indicate we needed to make a change in direction?"
Well, it was bound to happen, we agreed on something.
Here's a hint, yet again, WE DIDN'T LIKE BAILOUTS THEN EITHER!!!! I sent letters and e-mail to my elected worms saying so! Those companies should have been allowed to fail. Someone would have bought the toxic assets along with the good, and turned it around. But no, we bypassed the system and sent good money after bad.
But how is MORE of the SAME, a CHANGE?
This is the part I don't get. It was wrong when GWB did it, but somehow it's right when BHO does it? I keep asking this, but you've yet to answer me.
How was it bad then, good now?
as the article said the change in direction we needed was to put forth economic polices that would boost the economy
as the article said Obama polices are not percived as doing that
everyone wants economic recovery(except Pelosie & the socialists)so we want Obama to put forth polices that cuse the market to go up, not down
the DOE is down 20% since he was sworn in (twice wasn't it?)
and a 20% fall is deemed a bear market.
Wall street has actuality named this 20% drop "The Obama Bear market"
there have been 33 trading days since the Chosen One was made President and the DOW has dropped 20% in those 33 days!!!!!!!
not even Bush can claim that!!!!
and Obama said in his radio address today "Endure, find opportunity in time of crisis."
No, bush can only claim to have destroyed the financial sector, the housing sector, the auto sector, the manufacturing sector, lost 4 million jobs and seen the DOW go from 14,000 to 8000.
Not a big deal, really.
you ar eright since Bush saw the DOW go from 8,000 to 14,000 seeing it go back down is no big deal.
remember after 8 years of Bush the Dow was up overall.
after 30 odd days of Obama the Dow is down 20%
Clinton 1993 DOW 3300
Clinton Dec 00 DOW 10,600
Bush Jan 19 2009 DOW 8281
Even if you look at Nov 3, 2008 it closed at 9326.
Keep believing in republicans! They will create Utopia!
Governments can't create utopia. It's ideologically impossible. And anyone who believes they can is a sheep.
Free people create personal utopias by being hard working and prosperous.
Governments and political parties create nothing but grief by stripping personal utopia in the name of "common good" and redistributing it to those who can't appreciate it because they didn't earn it.
Governments and political parties suck. They are liars, cheats, and thieves. They work for us, yet they look down their noses at us and pretend to be superior. They are scum.
And until they are treated like the servants they are and accept their servitude - rather than worshipped and depicted as some kind of 'deity' - the United States will continue its tailspin.
There have always been governments, since the beginning of time. Civilized people form governments. Savages schew them.
Name me one tribe, village, town, county, city, state or country that has made any progress without a central unifying force of leaders. Ever in history.
And if you don't think governments can improve life, why complain that Obama is not creating Utopia?
Clinton 1993 DOW 3300
Clinton Dec 00 DOW 10,600
Bush Jan 19 2009 DOW 8281
Even if you look at Nov 3, 2008 it closed at 9326.
Keep believing in republicans! They will create Utopia!
& Obama DOW doen 20% in 33 trading days - keep believing in democrats, they will make you poor & dependent on free cheese
You have low reading comprehension.
Seriously - HLF - If I made the statement "I hate sushi" and you come back with the argument "there have been fish in the sea since the beginnning of history" - what bearing does the longivity of fish in the sea have on the fact I hate sushi?
Still, bush was a disaster.
If the markets hadn't started their free fall under bush due to the credit crisis that started last spring, you might have a point. Markets worldwide are tanking. Going to blame Obama for that too?
See, you people are intellectually stunted or dishonest. You have seized on the DOW as proof that, in 45 days, Obama has ruined everything. You don't believe that, you just like thinking it. You LOVE bad news. It stems from the bitterness over having lost the election.
It's like the boys who lost the big game who trip the winning tram as they go to get their trophies at the award banquet. Bad losers, destructive people- conservatives.
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Jimbo,
You don't have to live under the rules of the sea or be sushi. If you want to live in a civilized society you have to live under a government or some form of leadership. Humans have done that since the beginning of time or at least when they stopped grunting and eating each other.
HLF - Believe me, please - I fully understand the history of government. I am a student of history. There are good governments and bad governments. My point is; people must understand that the best governments in history are those that are self governing. The worst governments in history were always kingdoms/dictatorships. Governors are servants in the best governments. Governors that are rulers who demand worship and total devotion to themselves and their ideology are the worst.
Those who allow themselves to be subjugated by the later are sheep led to slaughter.
And the people deserve everything they're getting.
There is Obama hero worship and his minions are having to walk his line and don't directly criticize him but you know they are concerned. Come on and admit that you're concerned, HLF.
C-Bug,
I think you're wrong on that. The "HLTs" would rather die, than admit The One has a chink in his armor. Although, chink is about the only kind of blood he DOESN'T have.
Jimbo,
even when you agree with him that some Bush policies were wrong, you get nothing back, I've tried.
hey my half brother lives in China!!!
I know Schteveo - I shouldn't have wasted the wear and tear on my keyboard. Make a straight forward statement like "politicians are crooks" and get an argument back like "there have always been governments".
Debating an idiot makes an idiot out of me.
I'll not make the mistake again.
I am not one bit concerned about Obama's performance or abilities after 45 days in office.
I am concerned that he will not be able to turn around the damage done by 30 years of pursuing conervative fiscal policies. I don't think anyone can. But I'd rather have his kind in power than the people who brought us this mess and who would have continued taking us down the same path of greed, neglect and mismanagement.
I often wonder at what point conservatives abandon their child-like devotion to the republicans and theri policies. Would a total bank collapse have done it? Wasn't it enough to wathc the financial and housing sectors destroy trillions in wealth? When do you decide to change directions? When 25% are unemployed? 40% poverty rates like South America? When you are directly affected?
The problem is the psychology of the conservative. As their policies fail and they are shown the error in their ways they dig their heels in and resist ever stronger. Liberals, on the other hand, bend and compromise. That's how conservatism was able to get their way so often in the past 30 years despite the times of divided government.
Funniest statement of 2009.
Liberals, on the other hand, bend and compromise.
When and where did this happen? And please, how about serious, policy instances. And remember, there are those of us here who disagreed with much that Bush did. I'd like instances, not rhetoric.
HLF;
YOu must learn, if you are to grow at all, that you can agree with parts nd pieces of any single person's policies, and disagree with others.
I, and most on here, disagreed with almost everything Bush Jr did. We've told you that many times. I hold him, and the congress elected at the time (who were democratic majority, but that is irrelevant) responsible for the collapse of our economy, just as I hold him resposible for the good times we had under his leadership (the DOW was at 14,800 at one point in time. He gets credit for the good times as well as the bad, to be fair).
That being said, I cannot hold Obama too responsible for the crisis that we are in, but i can hold him responsible for the actions that he has taken to date. So far, they have been very negative, fear-mongering speeches, and the passage of a bill that most economists think will accomplish nothign as far as stimulating the economy.
Both have hurt us. He has done a lot in the 45 days in office, and very little of it has been positive. You must learn to be hinest with yourself, anf honest about reality.
That being said, you really need to back off of the "people on this site support republicans" bullspit. Nothing could be further from the truth, and you know it.
Goober, you can't even reply to my post about Glass-Steagall from the other day.
You make these statements as if they're fact. "Most economists say will accomplissh nothing." Prove it. Right after you show me how the banks bundled bad mortgages into securities (impossible!) and sold them to unsuspecting MBAs from Merrill Lynch.
What good was a 14,000 DOW if it drops to 8000 when bush left office?
How much can Obama or any person do to stop a global economy that is tanking thanks to the greed-fueled conservative ideology that allowed banks to get in bed with Wall Street and sell as many risky mortgages as they could because they had a higher return?
YOU aren't being honest with youself. If you were you wouldn't be a conservative. But like most conservatives, when shown the error in your story you dig your heels in even more. That typifies conservatives and is why they're so difficult. You people will believe in your misguided ideology even as it screws you into the ground.
And don't go trying to distance yourself from republicans. Embrace your people.
Talk about not facing reality......
Liberals, on the other hand, bend and compromise.
When they gave Reagan his supply-side tax policy.
When they gave bush his tax cuts.
When they gave bush his war.
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