It's Bush's Recession, Bush's Stock Market

By GottaLaff

The L.A. Times did a piece on this today. A few excerpts:

Obama's critics also conveniently forget to mention that the U.S. stock market meltdown this year isn't happening in isolation. Major European stock markets also are down more than 20% since Jan. 1. In Japan, the Nikkei index hit a 26 1/2 -year low this week.

What's more, Obama isn't responsible for the cascade of securities-fraud cases that have come to light since December, when the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Wall Street veteran Bernie Madoff with running a $50-billion Ponzi scheme. [...]

Since Obama took office, the S&P 500 is down 20%. By contrast, the index jumped 34% in the first seven weeks after FDR was sworn in.

But it isn't a fair comparison. By the time Roosevelt came to power, the Great Depression and the accompanying stock market collapse were three years along.

And The Motley Moose lays it out in a way even Rushpublicans can understand:

It is time to push back against the claims being tossed out there by the Right and the investor class.

#1: The stock market is not the economy. It is only one indicator of how the economy is doing and not a very good indicator at that, since it is driven so much by emotions and the gambling instinct.

#2: This is not Obama's market. The market started to tank long before Obama was even considered a realistic candidate by most people. The movement since Obama took office is only a continuation of the current trend on the market.

#3: Economic policies aren't the major force on the market, yet. The biggest problem for the market is the global economy. It is still unknown how much the financial firms will lose from their lousy investments.

#4: The economy under G. W. Bush was inflated by easy credit. Now that home equity has been wiped out and credit card debt is difficult and expensive the average person has little money to invest. What little they do have sure isn't going to go into a falling stock market.

#5: The investor class has taken a huge hit from the Bush recession (depression?). They have also been taking hits from fraudulent investments like the Maddof fund or Stanford's fund. They are justifiably leery of investing at this time.

It is really quite simple. This is George W. Bush's bear market, just as it is his recession. The market won't reverse course until the economic factors that are driving its downward trend start to reverse. The change to a new bull market won't be driven by any policies or announcements by Barack Obama. The market wouldn't reverse tomorrow even if Obama announced a 100% reduction in corporate taxes. The fundamentals just aren't there. [...]

Don't let the Right own this argument. Push back every chance you get.

Clear? Clear.