No, I have not changed my mind. Generally, Rush Limbaugh is a brilliant man. On the stock market he is an absolutely STUPID man--as stupid and clueless as a man can be. He should read this blog more. (There are some indications he has read this blog on some of the numerous occasions when this blog has ANTICIPATED Limbaugh's position before he arrives at it, but clearly those could be explained by the fact that this blog's author is smart enough to arrive at the correct position before Limbaugh thinks of it).
You will notice that this blog was proven absolutely correct when I said that Limbaugh, and all of conservative talk radio, was STUPID to base almost their entire criticism of Obama on the drop in the stock market. Well, the stock market promptly rose to ABOVE the level to which it fell in October of 2008 (when you will remember that the Paulson/Geitner/Bush/Democrat/Congress/Obama/McCain panic set us on the road to both socialism and a worse economy than we would otherwise have had). It was me--jhot Rush Limbaugh--who told you, IN FORESIGHT, that the stock market had been bouncing around because it has become nothing more than a computer gaming casino, instead of a place for real investment. Yes, ONE of the reasons for this unintended consequence is the low cost of trading, and digital trading in increments of one cent, which have brought about day trading and computer program trading (not to mention hedge fund zero-sum game trading). The sick form of prsent day stock market trading, by the Stupidest People on Earth, is what guarantees wild stock market gyrations--not anything any politician is doing (which is not to say the politicians are helping the economy; on the contrary they are setting us on the road to central planning ruin).
Guess what Rush Limbaugh is now saying? Right. It is almost as lol funny as Obama. He is now saying that Obama is deliberately ROILING the stock market to advance his agenda!!! Again, bluntness is in order This is STUPID, and absolutely indefensible. This blog told you that already--again in foresight and not hindsight. In my many entries since Octoberf on the Stupidest People on Earth (present Wall Street people), I have examined the gyrations of the stock market siince the Paulson/Bernanke panic in October, and fully explainged that those gyratiions were the reullt of the way stock market traders now trade rather than the result of fundamental economic assessments by stock traders.
First, in October (before Obama), the stock marketed gyrated up and down 700 or a thousand points--not just once but several times--based just on whether Paulson's fradulent "bailout" package was going to pass in Congress. That was the idea we had to purchase "toxic assets" to save banks, quickly abandoned (until revived by Obama) in favor of simple socialism/economic fascism of government taking a direct interest in banks, and loaning money to banks. The whole farce of a debate in Congress, which "moved" the computer, momentum traders on Wall Street (the Stupidest People n Earth), was thus exposed as a complete farce. That debate was entirely about the wisdom and "oversight" of purchasing "toxic assets", which Paulson never did.
Well, after the Paulson/Democrat 700 billioin dollar bailout passed, the stock market promptly COLLAPSED to new lows, because that was the easiest way to HYPE the market--to manipulate the market with computer trading--it being obvious that the mere passage of the Paulson bailout did not "help" the economy much. Of course, that had been obvious from the beginning, but it did not keep thte computer traders from overreaction to every hiccup from government.
Recap. We are now in October--before Obama, and the stock market has reached new (for the year--for several lyears--lows. The computer traders on Wall Street then launched an IRRATIONAL RALLY, seemingly anticipating the election of Obama (the Messiah, after all). That rally brought the Dow back to above 9,000.
The day after Obama's actual election, the computer traders started SELLING (because they knew the rally had been irrational, and that the mere election of Obama did not cure the economy, which meant again that the easy way to make money for the "smart guys" was to drive the market DOWN, as there was no way to drive it any further up in the facce of obvious economic reality). This selling reached a climax on November 20, 2008. The stock market then went below the lows of October, but NOT BY MUCH. In Rush Limbaugh's words--to stupidly describe the present situation--the computer traders were "roiling" the stock market without really getting anywhere (except for the winners in the casino game of momentum musical chairs).
The computer gamers promptly shifted gears, and drove the stock market straight up--seemingly using the coming ascension of Obama, and other political (not economic) developments as the excuse. The stock market again went above Dow 9,000 in early January. I told you at the time that only the Stupidest People on Earth were buying at the top of this fictional rally.
The market promptly collapsed back below the levels of October and November--to new ten year lows, but NOT THAT MUCH below November. That is when conservative talk radio started blaming it all on Obama (with no evidence whatever, and with the evidence I have cited above to the contrary). Then the computer traders got to work again, and drove the market up 24% (20% used to be regarded as a "bull market", before this computer trading made 20% moves possible in a matter of days, which actually happened in October/November, calculating from low to high on at least one of these market gyrations).
I told you again that these computer traders, and Wall Street people in general, are the Stupidest People on Earth, as they continue to buy when the market is moving irrational higher. That move could not continue, and has not. It is earnings season, and the ear things were never going to be good enough to support a stock market going straight up--not even using the most optimistic speculation--which is all it is at this point--as to future earnings.
Yes, I have to be blunt about it. Rush Limbaugh is being STUPID to suggest that Obama is to blame for all of this. I yield to no one in my contempt for Obama's economic policies. They are leading us to disaster. But the stock market is sick on its own, because of the truly STUPID people there (this time I do mean generally stupid), and Obama can hardly be blamed for their wild gyrations (gyrations that may ultimately doom the stock market, as they drive, and have driven, everybody but momentum speculators away from the market).
Let me be blunt again: Today's stock market is as sick, or more sick, as it was in the wild days of 1929. It is all about computer program driven speculation, and today's stock market has little to do with economic reality (except as a trigger for the hype exaggerating all "market" moves).
The way the stock market SHOULD operate is NOT for traders to be "optimistic" or "pessimistic" about government policy--driving the Dow to the level they think is appropriate. The way the stock market SHOULD operate is for traders to evaluate the economic prospects of each seaparate company, with a DISCOUNT (not added value) for risk involved, and to value the company's stock based on those risk adjusted (adjusted downward) economic prospects. The aggregate of those stock values would then determine the level of the Dow, and broader stock indexes.
That is NOT how the stock market is working (okay, and never has been, but it is worse now than ever). The way things are working now is that the computer traders are setting target values on the Dow, and other indexes--target values which represent self-fulfilling prophecies. These traders don't "value" individual companies. They just try to determine the "hot" companies and industries, and manipulate stocks up and down in a "zero-sum game" with index targets. The index targets determine the trading in individual stocks, along with the bets on which types of stocks are hot and which are not. The "fundamentals" of the individual stocks are irrelevant, except when actual earnings (which today's stock traders would like to ignore and/or do away with) intrude.
Thus, you have a sick stock market being traded by sick, stupid people. If Rush Limbaugh thinks Obama really created this situation, then Rush Limbaugh is even more stupid than I think he is. I prefer to believe that Limbaugh has let his partisan, fighting spirit lead him into this stupidity, and that--deep down--he knows this is ridiculous.
Too bad Limbaugh is right on the overall picture. Obama IS leading us to disaster, and that disaster will eventually be reflected in the economy and the stock market. However, the irrational stock market gyrations along the way are solely due to the Stupidest People on Earth, and not really to Obama (at least, not until the final collapse).
P.S.: The stock market can be regarded as "my business", since I retired as a lawyer. And it is a lifetime hobby/passion--an inheritance from my gambling inclined mother. Should I really expect Rush Limbaugh to follow the stock market as cloesely as I do, and to understand it as well as I do? Well, no. But that does not help Limbuagh, does it? Limbaugh, and I, correctly criticize President Obama, and his minions, for presuming that they understand the economy so well that they can run it by central planning, even though they have no experience at all in the real world economy (not to mention that it is theoretically impossible). Limbuagh has no business placing the kind of emphasis he has been placing on the stock market, when he so clearly does not understand it (or even follow it closely and obejectively enough to realize that what he is saying makes no sense in the context of stock market gyrations well before Obama, including the NEW HIGH on the Dow in October of 2008 just as the economy's actual sickness was about to become apparent). A person who talks authoritatively on what he does not understand, or follow closely enough to even pretend to understand, is STUPID. The charge sticks.
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