The Dow is currently (2:58 pm) down 428 points. Heckuva job, Commander Codpiece! :)
P.S. And remember, if you like this, you'll just LOOOOVE John McCain. Oh yeah, speaking of McCain...his campaign manager says that "There's very little a candidate for president can say and very little the president can say about what's happening in the stock markets except hope that they correct themselves." Yeah, that must be why John McCain made such a big to-do about "suspending" his campaign, and why McCain's pal Dubya keeps getting on TV and addressing the nation about this. Maybe Davis is right in one sense, though; given that John McCain himself admits that economics is NOT his strong suit, he's probably better keeping his mouth shut on this one. Plus, didn't the McCain campaign say the other day that the more they talk about the economy, the more likely that they'll lose the election?
Oil is below $80. Natural gas is below $7, when this Summer is was peaking at $14. Still thinking there was no speculation? And if there wasn't, then supply must be super inelastic. Gasoline prices at the pump might even sink below that psychological $3 a gallon threshold. ;)
Is it really this bad?
In some federal program that the "PRIVATE SECTOR" (meaning the fat cats at the top)have no way of getting and Social Security/Medicare is the main example, we (McCain/Bush contributors) need to get "privatized" so we can eliminate "socialism" and get our cut in the "free Market".
There are other piles of money out there that the McCain people would like to "Trickle UP" to their real supporters, who DON'T GIVE A C**P about gay marriage, flag burning, stem cell research and a host of other jingoes BECAUSE
THEY ARE RICH ENOUGH, courtesy of the so-called Kansas voters, to send their family members to whatever countries allow every thing they CLAIM they are against IN THE NAME OF GOD.
I apologize in advance for the rant. I served in "the Nam" as an intelligence advisor to the Vietnamese no more than 30 miles from where Jim Webb won his DSC a year later. Check it out: Hoi An south of DaNang and An Hoa (which we unfortunately joked about in 1967 because the SVN Government declared it an "Industrial Area".
Having returned to the fold, I have problems believing that "supply and demand" has any more effect amid the corporate warlords than "the phase of the moon."
Risk Management to Corporate Warlords means: "Golden Parachute Contracts."
Management to me means: "Reward Success and Punish Failure". Something has gone wrong with out system! Did Man or GOD do it?
Our problems are the direct result of inadvisable, unsound, unfair and morally reprehensible policies enacted by the Bush Administration and foisted upon this country by know-nothing conservatives.
Even leaving aside the Bush Administration's incompetence, corruption and dishonesty, the remaining 5% which consisted of the good-faith implementation of conservative economic and foreign policy ideas was an unmitigated disaster.
Among the problems with Bush Administration economic governance:
1. Gross income growth inequality
2. A total abdication of regulatory oversight of markets and the banking system
3. An immoral and unfair tax code that put too much of an onus on the middle class
4. A complete lack of a rational approach to the declining supply of fossil fuels
Anyway, that is right off the top of my head, but the point is that we did not get into this fix because of some economic imperative over which we have no control. This debacle resulted directly from the actions of the Bush Administration and Conservative philosophy.
In a rational world, this would kill any hope of Conservatives to regain political leadership for the next 100 years, if not for ever.
Not that he was the only one at fault, but he certainly shares a heapin helpin of the blame. And while Republicans were having their field day with undoing other regulations and undermining government, he was still in a position to do right and avert disaster. But he just gave speeches to Congress so I guess that helps him sleep at night.
About two years ago, I was doing some research for an article (never published) about the coming recession. My jumping-off point was the persistent inverted yield curve back in mid to late 2006. Such an inversion has occurred six times since WWII, I believe, and was followed five times by a recession and once, in the early 1970s, by a severe economic slowdown that stopped just short of a recession.
Greenspan was arguing at the time, however, that this time it was different. His argument was that the US was flooded with liquidity from petro-dollars and Chinese economic expansion, and that should a flood of liquidity would continue for the foreseeable future. He maintained that petro-dollars would continue to flow, and given its size, China's economy would continue to expand, and the dollars those countries were earning had no place to go other than right back here.
Even I could see the flaw in his reasoning, so that suggests to me that it was more a rationalization of policies already implemented, than a factual basis for recommended policies.
What a fraud.
BLOWS MY MIND THAT CORPORATE MANAGEMENT FAILURE is an American VALUE WE MUST REWARD!
WE don't need Tort Reform. We need Corporate Law reform. Guess how Roberts and Alito are going to vote!