Where is the US economy headed?

Hey Finn, it only took a few days, but some in the press are already saying, this I heard, that the economy really may not be too bad. As soon as Obama is sworn in, the economy news will improve, I will guarantee it. At least as much as they can get by with. If it really tanks, then they will have to be careful about lying too blatantly, but they will try to spin it, that Obama's moves are brilliant and working.

I am convinced that part of the huge drops during the past month or two, has been due in part to people pulling their money in anticipation of Obama. Not all, but part.

I was listening to PBS during the two days after the election and it was hilarious. You know how intellectual and so official, and so with it, they try to sound, the economics expert assured us that the election had absolutely nothing to do with the 10% drop in the market following election day. You know, we've been told, the marke is highly sensitive to investor emotion, and here we just had one of the most emotional events of the decade, with people sobbing in the streets when they see Obama, and the election had absolutely no effect on the market?

Question, why do our tax dollars fund PBS? That network is a total absolute waste of tax dollars, period.

So the world wide crisis which followed the American, can be balmed on Obama.

The next one will be.

Which "next one" are you talking about?

Don't be such a dunce. With the currrent condition of the economy world-wide, no new president will have much wiggle room to improve our economy any time soon.

ci, I think a president that has an adversarial attitude toward business does not gender alot of confidence in the market. For example, look at the auto makers, virtually run into the ground by an overpaid and bloated management caving into demanding union thugs. The Golden goose that laid the golden egg has been plundered and beaten to the point of being on the edge of death. Now we have a president that doesn't care about geese, but wants to bleed what geese there are still walking around half alive, such as the energy industry. Why would anyone be all excited about buying geese these days? I think we need to restore some balance and reality back into the scenario. We need to once again honor excellence and achievement, instead of criticizing it and robbing it.

Haven't you heard? Obama will be president of the world, not just U.S.

To Walter, economically, when the U.S. hiccups, the world gets sick.

I see the markets are really optimistic with Obama. Where is Obama? I guess all tied up choosing Clinton retreads, that of course makes everybody so confident.

The market does not look optimistic to me okie.

But--we were shown tonight on Sky Art an iconic American sculptor out in the desert. Carhenge by name. An imitation Stonehenge built of cars which we all know are subject to very rapid disintegration which Stonehenge is not.

If life does imitate art, as is often said and with some justification, then the US economy is not going to be here for long.

I suppose it is possible that the artist was dealing with a gimmick and did not realise that his subject was transience under entropy. And may be he did.

Might I suggest as an art project that a series of photographs from fixed positions be taken of the monument once a year for the next 100 years and then run through quickly as with frames in films. A cluttering, banging crashing sound track could then be added.

Obamamania has turned into Obamaphobia, spendius.

If Obama would simply announce he likes capitalism and that he doesn't intend upon nationalizing anything or raising taxes, some of the bears could grow horns and begin to look like bulls. Trouble is, he might have to lie if he says that?

a few weeks back I said that it would be foolish to buy stocks till the dow hit 7500. .......well, were are about there. Anyone who can wait ten years to cash in should slowly get back in after they see a close at that mark or lower. Pick only the best companies, ones that have a record of good leadership and which have a clear way to create revenue. Also, pick only those that seem to not have hidden deals, such as secret contracts or some of those wacky financial instruments that tend to turn into land mines.

I fear our economy will get much. much worse now that O boy is the president elect.

It looks like liberal democrats are hell bent on running this country down into a full blown depression.

On what do you base that recommendation hawk? It looks like a sequence of assertions to me.

And what on earth does "seem to not have hidden deals" mean?

upon looking at the history of the DOW, surmising that had the economy not been ginned up on debt financed financial manipulation that DOW 7500 would be the highest level that would be reasonable to reach. Everything above that level was froth, which has now been blown away. Once we get through this recession/depression we should be able to slowly move above DOW 7500. Between now and then we may go a lot lower, but bottoms are hard to call and catch, reasonable valuations are much easier to figure.

Hidden deal.....any arrangement that impacts the ability of the firm to survive, for which there is no transparency. The credit fault swaps are an example of this, they are contracts that are secret between the parties. Poorly figured deferred income (pension) liabilities are another, the true costs are hidden by unreasonable assumptions.

I don't think that I am making assertions, I am making a prediction, and I am correct a lot of the time.

Whenever you are listening to financial advice it is the next recommendation one is interested in and not the track record. One can be right by chance. And get a short series right by chance too.

Nothing would surprise me at this point.

it has been made very clear that the supposed experts have no clue, they did not see this coming...did not see how that they were creating the conditions that convinced the majority that the economy is unsound. Being right has more to do with having a sound intuition at this point, the economy is far to complex to understand rationally, but being right by intuition you would call being right by chance.....right?

Near enough hawk. Intuition comes from out of your information sources.

Is it not obvious that nobody knows what to do? Governments are at the mercy of the next dramatic revelation.

DOW DROPS ... AND OBAMA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT?

An anti-capitalist is elected president, and my investment advisor said the election has nothing to do with this melt down. Should I fire him? Spendius, Hawkeye, H2Oman, any opinions on that?

Christ, you guys are dense.

Obama's not even president yet, he has made no decisions - and you're blaming the stock market's continued drops on him? Seriously?

Idiotic opportunism at it's finest.

Cycloptichorn