Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Dow

There was a time many years ago when you could define a nations' economic health by what the Dow Jones Industrial average did. It was an indicator of the top 50 stocks that gave a fairly accurate picture where things were and where they were going. That is until many of the regulations were cast to the curb and it turned into a Vegas night out. And don't forget the drinks.

The best talent is now not relegated to producing the next newest and best products but used to squeeze the last nickel from a spreadsheet. Corporations no longer serve their customers but their shareholders and let us not forget those CEO bonuses. New and improved is neither new or better unless you're talking about the pretty new and cheaper packaging. Forget that the product content has shaved it's net ozs. the package now matches the room decor.

But back to the original idea here, the Dow was at over 14000 in October of 2007. It took a 7000 point hit in the months that followed. It is now inching back up to that 14000 number once again and yet the economy isn't humming along like it was before 2007. But the banks now having been bailed out and still sitting on the bulk of housing foreclosures are playing the same game they did back in the early 2000s only this time it's with entire countries. We now have countries who could no more pay back those loans than a subprime borrower could before the crash. So it gives rise to the though. Just how do you foreclose on an entire country? Sorry people you'll have to leave we're turning your country into an amusement park for our rich investors.

It's all crazy when you think about it. Borrowed money chasing borrowed money all the while people getting thrown out of their homes. And the game continues on Wall Street until somebody wants to cash out their chips not realizing that those chips aren't really worth much especially when everybody starts heading for the pay out window. Oh the rush will happen it's just a matter of time. Fear does that you know. That is until greed kicks in and the game starts anew. Let's hope we don't get caught in the stampede again.

7 comments:

BBC said...

And when there is any good news, real or not, it's used to drive up the price of oil, and therefore the price of gas at the pumps.

So I'm plumb good with the markets staying down.

Unknown said...

A sad comment when the best you can hope for is not to get caught up in the stampede.

Anonymous said...

The best correlation is to compare the Dow Industrials 'growth' between January 2001 - when President Bush took office - and January 2009 - when he left to January 2009 - when President Obama took office and January 2013.

Who says the Republicans are better for the rich, the famous and The Markets?

Demeur said...

You seem to forget the multiple tax breaks Bush gave to his "base" the wealthy. And yes it wasn't just one tax cut for them. Nearly every bill had something for them neatly hidden it.

Anonymous said...

Like the $500M subsidy for AmGen in the latest greatest failure of a piece of legislation? At least they're consistent!

Roger Owen Green said...

Actually, this podcast explains the soft growth as well as anything.

Unknown said...

The Bush tax cuts did nothing for the rich except give them more money, and by the same token, less value for that money since it eroded the total value of the American economy by allowing the infrastructure of America's free market system (which includes roads, bridges, public amenities, education, health care) to fall into decline.