Comments on: Wall Street Hits Another Dubious Milestone

Dow Tumbles Below 7,000 For First Time In 12 Years As Investors Fret Over Financial Companies

[ubrew12]

Its very much in keeping with the disease thats affected many in the GOP that todays DOW would be, for them, a reflection of policies intended to redirect the U.S. economy for decades to come. Sorry guys, but if next quarters profits are all you care about, then you deserve the plethora of totally useless, even counterproductive 'goods' capitalism has spit out over the last 20 years: Hummers, Big Macs, Monster Homes, worthless mortgage derivatives, Bernie Madoff, Enron, plastic surgery, cruise-ship vacations, chinese underwear, video games, and entertainment tonight.

Sit it out and let the grownups rebuild the economy, putting money where it needs to go: alternative energy, healthcare, education, infrastructure. All the places that measure profitability in terms of years, but that constitute real growth for America rather than fluff.

[debinok1]

on_alert247, the act that pretty much screwed America?

"A December 21, 2008 Wall St. Journal editorial stated, "The new laws and regulations have neither prevented frauds nor instituted fairness. But they have managed to kill the creation of new public companies in the U.S., cripple the venture capital business, and damage entrepreneurship. According to the National Venture Capital Association, in all of 2008 there have been just six companies that have gone public. Compare that with 269 IPOs in 1999, 272 in 1996, and 365 in 1986. Faced with crushing reporting costs if they go public, new companies are instead selling themselves to big, existing corporations. For the last four years it has seemed that every new business plan in Silicon Valley has ended with the statement 'And then we sell to Google.' The venture capital industry is now underwater, paying out less than it is taking in. Small potential shareholders are denied access to future gains. Power is being ever more centralized in big, established companies. For all of this, we can first thank Sarbanes-Oxley. Cooked up in the wake of accounting scandals earlier this decade, it has essentially killed the creation of new public companies in America, hamstrung the NYSE and Nasdaq (while making the London Stock Exchange rich), and cost U.S. industry more than $200 billion by some estimates."

[nearl451]

SOme here would do better to runand hide under the appropriate Troll Bridge.

Imagine what Wall street would do if the losses were reported and an Administration stated they were doing absolutely nothing about the economic collapse.

McCAin wouldbe doing no different Trollies.

[hawksprings]

The Economy has given a vote of "No Confidence" to Obama, Peloozi, and Reed.
Enjoy your Change.

[walt1944]

It has been learned that Obama intends to replace Ben "Fuzzy Face" Bernanke at the Federal Reserve and bring back that ancient fossil, Alan Greenspan as Head of the Fed.

Greenspan's first order of business will be to lower the lending rate into the uncharted country of "negative interest", which means the government will PAY banks more money to lend money! Next, he plans on sending Federal Reserve employees scouring thru demolition sites and cart off as many building bricks as possible. He will then paint the bricks with GOLD PAINT, and place them in Fort Knox, which then enable the Federal Reserve to print more money.

ECONOMY SAVED!

As for Ben "Fuzzy Face" Bernanke, Obama is ordering that Bernanke finish his education in finance and economics by sending Bernanke back to school with the orders that this time he finish high school and get his high school diploma!

HAIL OBAMA!!!

[curse914]

We are in deep trouble and I truly believe that if the spending doesn't stop, we're doomed. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!! Anyone who believes that this communist dictator is going to turn things around with all this spending is a total moron. QUIT blaming Bush for everything. That's part of the problem. You idiots don't understand that the likes of Biden, Reid, Boxer, and Pelosi among others have been in Washington spending your money for years. How long can you morons keep swallowing everything you're told?????
Posted by dongo3 at 3:52 PM : Mar 2, 2009

Ever heard of the Executive Veto, it is more than just symbolic. Reagan was just a much a wimp when it came to vetoing spending bills.

Oh look, Carter borrowed less than the "fiscal conservatives".

Shares of Non-Social Security Federal Spending Paid for by Borrowing
Fiscal 1947 to 2003 (projected)
Truman none
Eisenhower 3%
Kennedy-Johnson 6%
Nixon-Ford 14%
Carter 13%
Reagan 25%
Bush I 28%
Clinton 6%
Bush II, fy 2002 23%
Bush II, fy 2003p 32%

[curse914]

Deregulation during Bush? What are you kidding? You don't know what your talking about. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 added more regulation. Only hard core republicans were against it but it still became law with Bush's backing. Just because Obama said this was Bush's fault doesn't make it true. Obama is a lifelong activist and politician .. the most professional of sweat talkers.
Posted by on_alert247 at 4:07 PM : Mar 2, 2009

Hello, bright boy, Sarbanes has nothing to do with the removal of Glass Stegal. Sarbanes should have been there to begin with. From what I have read it is filling fraud loopholes.

"Following the Great Crash of 1929, one of every five banks in America fails. Many people, especially politicians, see market speculation engaged in by banks during the 1920s as a cause of the crash.

In 1933, Senator Carter Glass (D-Va.) and Congressman Henry Steagall (D-Ala.) introduce the historic legislation that bears their name, seeking to limit the conflicts of interest created when commercial banks are permitted to underwrite stocks or bonds. In the early part of the century, individual investors were seriously hurt by banks whose overriding interest was promoting stocks of interest and benefit to the banks, rather than to individual investors. The new law bans commercial banks from underwriting securities, forcing banks to choose between being a simple lender or an underwriter (brokerage). The act also establishes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), insuring bank deposits, and strengthens the Federal Reserve's control over credit.

The Glass-Steagall Act passes after Ferdinand Pecora, a politically ambitious former New York City prosecutor, drums up popular support for stronger regulation by hauling bank officials in front of the Senate Banking and Currency Committee to answer for their role in the stock-market crash.

In 1956, the Bank Holding Company Act is passed, extending the restrictions on banks, including that bank holding companies owning two or more banks cannot engage in non-banking activity and cannot buy banks in another state. "

[steeepe]

We are in deep trouble and I truly believe that if the spending doesn't stop, we're doomed. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!! Anyone who believes that this communist dictator is going to turn things around with all this spending is a total moron. QUIT blaming Bush for everything. That's part of the problem. You idiots don't understand that the likes of Biden, Reid, Boxer, and Pelosi among others have been in Washington spending your money for years. How long can you morons keep swallowing everything you're told?????
Posted by dongo3 at 3:52 PM : Mar 2, 2009

Communist dictator? Take a smart pill and rethink your position; it makes no sense. Did you forget that the GOP controlled Congress for most of the last 8+ years? Or that Bush/Cheney were as close to fascism as you can get? Or that the Republican leaders in Congress rubber stamped every idiotic spending program that Bush wanted? Throwing insults around like "Communist dictator" are only good as long as they have some basis in reality.

[wdh3007]

With all the new wastefull spending who knows what we will end up like in 4 years from 787 billion worth of nothing that won't do anything to 30 billion more for AIG to lose and now Europe seems to wan't a new world deal another words a bailout for them too. Now we learn that BO will keep 50,000 troops to be left in Iraq and that's not bringing them home that was a lie to get votes to get elected president this neo marxist will end up doing more damage in four years than bush did in eight. No new bailouts should of been the change we believe in because if this guy keeps going the way he is their won't be any money left and everyone will wish he was an illegal alien from Kenya.

[gce651]

Dow was at 10,700 In Jan '01 when Bush came into office.

Dow was at 13,930 in Oct '07.

Dow was at 7949 on Jan 20, '09, Bush's last day in office.

It's all happened on BUSH's watch.