Are we having fun yet?
Whether you bought into the negative financial and political media rhetoric that accompanied our forty-fourth President into office or whether you did not, will, in large part determine your answer to this question. “2000 Days of Obama: How have stocks fared?…” (MarketWatch, July 14, 2014), answers this question and more…like how have stocks done under Democratic administrations vs. Republican administrations. I’m certain the Right will not be pleased with the answer to this question. But, even this article, which really gives a positive answer to the question, spins a negative into the title by adding, “President ranks high among peers, but standing may not last.”
Lest we forget
According to former Republican House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, ‘[Obama] is in the great tradition of Edison, Ford, the Wright Brothers, Bill Gates — he saw his opportunity and he took it,” Gingrich says. Will Gingrich take it (the Presidency) back in 2012? “The American people may take it back, in which case I may or may not be the recipient of that, but I have zero doubt that the American people will take it back. Unlike Ford, the Wright Brothers, et cetera, this guy’s invention did not work’ (National Review On Line, “the Corner,” by Bob Costa–9/10/2010). How can we forget the charges that the President was the most liberal in the history. He was a Socialist (or even a closet Communist). Even worse, he had been a community organizer. He does not understand business or the economy. He is anti-buisness.
OMG, SELL EVERYTHING!
This rhetoric and criticism continues today, in the face of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. Even if you do not like the president and his other policies, if your are in the market via direct stock investment, mutual funds, ETFs, a 401k or pension, the five-year bull market is proof that much of the media rant on his economic policies has been totally misguided and wrong. Were you swayed to the sidelines? This is a cardinal example of how paying attention to the media can be harmful to your investment health. In a nutshell, the media has done real harm. Now, I try not to be political in the posts; but, If you are in the market, a careful reading of “2000 Days of Obama…” might just turn you into a card-carrying Democrat.
Are we having fun yet?
Your comment?
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Love it! This was great!
You knew I would comment. 🙂
Since life is not a double blind study, we will never know how the economy would have performed without the headwinds of Pres. Obama’s policies and actions. I believe that the steady improvement in the economy is in spite of, rather than because of this administration’s policies. The real measure of the impact of President’s policies ( including healthcare reform) is in the terrible statistics related to the workforce participation rate and the percentage of Americans receiving public assistance.
Thanks for the ongoing insight you provide. You and I will never agree politically, but I’m never offended when political views are presented as such, only when they are presented as universal truths. Take care, and keep up the great blogging.
Bill
Thank you Bill. I appreciate your readership and thoughtful commentary. There were a lot of things at work here, including a particularly accommodating Federal Reserve, that made the president look good. X the Fed, the economic landscape would look considerably less promising. The real question is, what would the outcome have been (including the affordable care act) had there been a spirit of cooperation between the White House and Congress? That spirit of cooperation seems to be lacking even to this day.
My bet is that the Fed incursion would not have been nearly as deep or lasted as long as it has. Ergo, a bloated Fed balance sheet, which we will have to deal with someday soon.
Re. Labor participation rate.. I believe that it is more baby boomer retirees than people giving up the ghost and leaving the workforce. My cohort is a huge portion of the population.