Stock market nearing 10,000

[Missouri Mule]

up 89 points as I write this. Good for Bush. Good for the nation?

[Captain America]

Well, going on the premise that the previous presidential administration is always responsible for current presidential administrations successes and failures (ie: the republican claim that Bush Sr. was responsible for Clinton's success, and Clinton was responsible for Bush Jr's failure) then I guess it's safe to assume that IF the economy does get good, we can credit Clinton
for it?

No? I didn't think so. I was just merely pointing out the hyprocracy of the current right wing line of logic.

Never pass up the oppertunity to feed it back to 'em, I say;)

[up2date]

CA, have I told you yet how much I enjoy reading your posts?

[Captain America]

Thank you sir, I enjoy writing them for you good folks. I equally enjoy reading yours.

I DO have a way of smelling out right-wing bull-*****, don't I?

[up2date]

You do have one hell of a nose for it, I have to say.

[Missouri Mule]

Has CA told you that he voted for Bush?

[up2date]

Originally posted by Missouri Mule
Has CA told you that he voted for Bush? Really? Where's that ban button? :D

I think I picked that up in another thread. Doesn't change the fact he's made some nice observations.

[Squidly]

Good for Bush? Maybe. Too soon to tell.

Good for the nation? Well, some of it. The same part that seems to always smell like a rose when the GOP is running the show.

Things are positively peachy for the Big Business cronies of Bush, Cheney, et al.

For the rest of us, unemployment is at a ten year high, the housing affordability index is down again, more people are going to bed hungry, consumer spending - a measure of cofidence in the economy - is down.

The real puzzler here is why the areas suffering the most from this crappy jobless recovery are the same areas that went heavily for Dubya last time and will line up to vote for him again. Didn't they have connect-the-dots books when they were kids?

[Missouri Mule]

Well, if you think this is bad, during the Great Depression 1/3 of the population didn't have jobs. Things aren't so bad now. We got spoiled during the '90s. When I got out of college in 1971 only 12 members of the graduating class had job offers. The year before they each about three job offers each.

Consider what it is in Europe where the unemployment is about 10% and no end in sight. We're in hog heaven compared to them. Their welfare system can't support them any longer and there are liable to be major problems there before they get better, if ever. Seems that Shroeder's poll numbers are down around 22% now. When has a U.S. president ever had poll numbers that low? I can't recall a time.

It could be a lot worse!!

[Squidly]

We may be in heaven compared to the US in the thirties and we may be in heaven compared to Europe in the 2000's, but we're in hell compared to the US in the 90's.

It's not about having jobs waiting for college grads. When I got out of college, I had to go looking for my own entry level job and had to work my way up. I didn't expect a job to be sitting there, waiting for me, and it wasn't.

But the problem isn't the dearth of easy gigs for newly minted college grads. The problem is the loss of jobs period. It's middle aged men and women who are finding the only employer in town has outsourced their jobs and shut the doors. It's all the downsizing and "rightsizing" that leaves many employed people doing the work of two people for one salary. It's the fear of growth among management of small companies, traditionally a greater source of jobs than large companies.

It could be a lot worse? As long as we're drawing breath, it can always be a lot worse. The point is, it was and should be a lot better.

[Captain America]

Life is full of ups and downs.

One has to be able to adapt.

One has to learn to be able to sing in the rain.

One can only be as unhappy as one allows themselves to be.

So let's eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, we die.:beer:

[Missouri Mule]

Squidly: It seems to me this is a good subject for the upcoming election. The question must be how do we stem the tide of those jobs? Do we start passing a lot of restrictive laws? Even if the Democratic candidate wins, it will be extremely difficult to get through a Republican Congress.

The last time we truly had a one-party Congress was in the '60s and they went way overboard with the "Great Society" programs and we are still paying for that fiasco.

An analogy has been made that what would Congress have done about the buggy whip manufacturer and workers. Would it have been subsidized and protected against new technology? How far do we want to go to protect jobs that are not profitable to be performed in the U.S.? The cure may be worse than the disease.

[Duo_Maxwell]

the dow is a terrible accuracy idictator. A measly 30 stocks to gauge the ENTIRE market. Any statistican will tell you that average is totally bogus. Not large enough sample.

Look at the S & P 500, a much better indictator.

How can u better guage thousands of stocks with 30 then with 500?

[Missouri Mule]

I believe that the DOW 30 run roughly parallel with the S&P 500. The stocks are chosen for their appropriateness and replaced when they no longer do. The mathematical forumla used to calculate the DOW should also even out the dips and spikes.

However, the S&P is a good place to look. I personally have some stock in SPY (@ $105.99). It is a stock that represents the S&P and is traded on the AMEX. I also recommend that anyone consider a S&P index fund, namely the Vanguard 500 currently with only a .18% yearly fee.

If I had a few more dollars I would put it into Berkshire-Hathaway "A" stock, currently selling at $79,000 per share, brk.a. The high rollers here should give it a look-see as it has done very well over the years and some regard it as the creme de la creme.

[Captain America]

Todays newspapers reveal that mutual funds have been grossly abused. No wonder I couldn't figure out why the market was going up, yet my 401K (mutuals) were all still in the red.:eek:

Where is that guy, who was shooting at his lawyer, when we need him?

[Missouri Mule]

How well I know. Three of my mutual funds have been implicated in this growing scandal.

[NetxMan]

The economy is booming, I love it. I guess the nine dems are going to have to preach on something else in the next few months.

[gopman]

"I was just merely pointing out the hyprocracy of the current right wing line of logic."

That's an oversimplification. Clinton rode a bubble in the economy created by internet boom. A six year old could have done that. His high taxes and a natural dip in the economy led to a recession at the beginning of Bush's administration, from which Bush is leading the nation.

[Captain America]

Sometimes I feel like a dog chasing my tail.:D :D

[Missouri Mule]

Maybe you should stop chasing your tail then.

[Captain America]

You may be right B-dog. Trying to reason with some folks is like pissin' up a rope.:rolleyes:

[ScummyD]

Originally posted by Squidly
Good for the nation? Well, some of it. The same part that seems to always smell like a rose when the GOP is running the show.
Around 50% or more of Americans own stock, so it is more than "some of it."

Nearing 10,000 and avoided any sort of major pull in october. The last 8 months have been firing on all eight!

[ScummyD]

SINA has been quite nice to me.

[up2date]

Originally posted by scummyd
Around 50% or more of Americans own stock, so it is more than "some of it." These numbers are from 1992, but you get the picture:Ownership of Corporate and Business Assets (1992)

Business
assets Stocks Bonds Trusts
Top 1% 61.6% 49.6% 62.4% 52.9%
Next 9% 29.5 36.7 28.9 5.1
Rest 8.9 13.6 8.7 12.0
10% of the population owns 86.3% of all stocks.

[Missouri Mule]

But it is still important to note that a very high percentage of Americans own some stock especially in mutual funds.

I've begun investing in individual stocks and am simply going to hold them. Churning the stocks will generally result in a loss. I think the most important thing to do is to know the company you are investing in and like its product or services. I was so pleased with my new Dell computer and service I went right out and purchased some of its stock with my dividends. I plow the dividends back into the market. A regular investment strategy is employing "dollar cost averaging." Over time it is a winning strategy.