Republicans Now Scheming to Tank the Market

[swag]

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/10/mirable-dictu-the-republicans-are-now-scheming-to-tank-the-market.html

So get this: the Republicans (well, to be more accurate, House Minority Leader John Boehner, but we’ll treat him as a good proxy) are really really unhappy at all this recovery talk, since it is Team Obama’s only claim to fame thus far. And in case you missed it, it appears that all this great PR is working. They managed to turn a combo relief rally/short squeeze into something bigger by getting the media to play along (this is not just our conclusion, BTW). And then they cleverly pointed to the stock market as proof certain that Things Are Getting Better when the reality is Things Are Merely Getting Worse Less Rapidly. But this is America, the land of open skies, pink flamingoes, Prozac, and plastic surgery, so we’ll happily go along with the idea that maybe the powers that be can restore status quo ante, since the alternative is painful, and we don’t do the hair shirt and sack cloth routine very well.

So what do Boehner and Co. want to do? They want to attack the idea that the economy is getting better! Now if people quit believing that, the stock market would be one of the first casualties. But they are apparently willing to let a little blood from their collective constituents in the hope of winning a bigger prize, that of the mid-term elections and the presidency in 2012.

Frankly, I don’t think they need to go to this much effort. I am no fan of the Republicans (truth be told, I don’t like either party, but I have more antipathy for the Republicans overall). Unless the employment situation turns around (and David Rosenberg has given a very persuasive reading why it is likely to get worse), the cheery talk about recovery will be revealed to be the result of stimulus measures soon to wane and an inventory bounce (although some economists argue even that effect won’t be as strong as is widely anticipated). I suspect it will in the fullness of time become evident to all that things are as rosy as consensus forecasts now assume, and that calendar will play well into the mid-term elections, at least as far as the Republicans are concerned.

. . .

[aquart]

1. They don't have to scheme. They ALWAYS tank the market.

George Bush came in and my IRA lost half its value and never fully recovered. Please. Scheming unnecessary.

[unpossibles]

2. Agreed. I am somewhat amazed that more don't put 2 and 2 together

and realize that Reagan sold a truckload of horseshit to Americans, and that conservative economic policies have drained the taxable income, have drained the majority of Americans' bank accounts and retirement savings, and have had very little positive effect on us, and the evidence is all around us.