AllupInyourBiz

It looks like all the market needed was a little Columbus day luck.  Call it Money Monday. Shortly after 4:00 PM today the DJIA is almost +700. Could it have something to do with the fact that today is a bank holiday?

Cue, dive bomber sound effect. the Dow has now dropped almost 7 points and continues in the same trend. We still have 3 hours before the market closes. Any bets on if the margin of loss will be as big as last Monday?

For the first time since 2004, the DJIA has slipped below 10,000. As of mid-day today, it has slid almost 5 points. In the wake of the bailout bill being passed by the house (then signed by Dubya), the media once again, is silent, regarding any correlation that may exist between the promised renewed trust in the credit market, and the direction of the DJIA, today. If this is what renewed trust in the credit market looks like, we are in big trouble. The most infuriating thing, as a voter, is that the elected representatives blatantly acted against the will of their constituency, in this case. If the bill were of lesser magnitude, it probably would not be so aggravating. But this legislation will undoubtedly have repercussions for decades to come. If you are a voter, make sure to hold your reps accountable for their actions next month when you are in the cast your ballot. When representatives fail to do as their title suggests, and represent, they are not doing their job, and need to be replaced.

Just as I thought I was going to have to come up with my own idea as to why the DJIA was tanking today, Bloomberg came through for me.

Monday, the media blamed the 7 point drop in the DJIA on the House’s rejection of the bailout plan. Tuesday, the media said that the DJIA was rallying because of speculation that a new version of the bailout plan would pass, in the Senate. Well, the Senate passed the bailout plan last night, and the DJIA is down over 3 points today. Why aren’t there any headlines linking the drop to the bill? Has that direct connection between the bill and the Dow mysteriously evaporated over night? Oh wait, maybe the drop in the Dow today is a direct result of investors’ anticipation of the vice presidential debate tonight. Is that it? So, why has the media focused so much energy on promoting the bailout plan, even to the extent of making total bogus extrapolations as scare tactics? No one is even arguing with the fact that the vast majority of individuals who have voiced their opinions to elected officials, have been opposed to the bill. Yet the media is still trying to convince everyone that the United States, followed by the world economy, is suddenly going to implode into a great depression if the Federal Government doesn’t step in NOW! Is the media some how convinced that the bill really is what people need (even if the people don’t want it)? Is there some sort of kickback for mass media, buried in the revised bill? Just as skeptics of the bill predicted, the market is doing what the market was going to do, regardless of any measure being passed by congress. If the media was telling the truth about the DJIA reflecting the faith of investors, in lieu of the contemplated bailout bill, shouldn’t the DJIA have soared today, after a victory in the Senate? What a total load of crap. Not only will the market continue to do exactly what it was going to do anyway (most likely continue to experience a decline), but if the House approves it, each American (not just taxpayers) will have another $22,000 each, as their portion of the federal debt.

It wasn’t enough indication of what the concerned involved citizens wanted, when they contacted their respective House Representatives and told them not to pass an economic rescue plan, at ratio of 10 to 1. Yes, that’s right, it is an “economic rescue” plan, not a bailout bill. The president was offended that the media kept using the negative term “bailout.” He said that he liked to think of it more as a rescue of a a ship (the economy) that is in distress. That is probably how his aides explained  the measure to him (or drew a picture for him, illustrating a ship being rescued). I think that analogy pretty much sums up the extent of Dubya’s grasp on macroeconomics. To him, it is like a big ship that needs to be rescued. Unfortunately, the majority of our elected officials also have a very rudimentary understanding of complex economic dealings. This is extremely evident by the Senate’s actions today. Instead of letting the bill die, after it failed in the House, they are slapping some tax breaks on it, and a measure to raise the level to which a single account can be insured by FDIC (a program which many banks have not even been paying their premiums for), and are going to try to ram it through anyway. It is because the Senators recieve so much campaign funding from Wall Street firms? It is because they really think it is going to help? Is it because they would rather have the less sophisticated voters think they tried, instead of explaining to them the it isn’t the government’s place to fix everything? I guess we will find out, in the debates that are scheduled to start today at 12:30 Eastern Time. If you are interested, you can stream them from C-span2. The vote is scheduled to take place “after sundown.” If you are interested to see the language of the bill, you can download a PDF of the draft here. Is it too much to ask, for the senators to use history as an example of what happens when you try to rush into a legislative fix on a capitalist economy? Maybe it is too much. But I don’t think that it should be too much to ask them to give heed to wishes of the overwhelming majority of the people who elected them to office. That, after all, IS their job.