Comments on: If Stocks Are in Turmoil, Blame the Feds

Investors Fear "Regime Uncertainty," Writes Declan McCullagh

[sebastian27-2009]

The federal government is controlled by hypocrits. The cry and wail about no one saving money, then drive interest rates down to where you are actually LOOSING money by doing so.
This has forced many of us conservative folks into the investing in the stock market where we have lost our shirts partially because of deregulation of the markets.

[dumdnc]

As the chosen one's pit bull said (rahm emanuel)"this is a disaster too good to pass up". The present administration is dead set on keeping this economic mess going. Every time someone in that administration opens their mouth the market goes down and that's what they want.

[labrat9999]

I'm alwasy amazed at how clever and smart people are in hindsight and how now they know how to fix the problem six months ago. I certainly hope we aren't paying these media types, and economists much money. Any idiot can look backwards and see a train wreck that already happened. Look forward and tell me what the future holds!! Now that would be intelligent. And by the way, for the media types, please stop interviewing one another, you are not professional in the economic arena. So spend a little and get some advise from some of these Phd types with a background in the subject.

[markangeloo]

Today because I had lost my ATM card
I actually went inside my bank.
They enticed me to open a savings acount.
I almost laughed out loud with scorn
when they told me the interest rate!
.01% How do they expect anyone to save at those numbers.
RAISE INTEREST RATES NOW
The stimulus should be paid to real investers.
They should have been raised ages ago but
were kept low to blind citizens to the Iraq War
while the housing circus was on going.
In actuality realestate never went up
but the dollar went DOWN.
This was reflected in gold price.
Amerika is no better than Argentina.

[ubrew12]

declanm said: "ubrew12: It's trivially true that not all tax cuts lead to growth and not all tax increases lead to recession. But the edge cases don't inform the general rule."

Which is that tax cuts lead to growth? To me, era's of low taxes lead, demonstrably, to economic collapse, while era's of high taxes lead, just as easily demonstrated, to economic ascendency (not to mention cultural ascendency). Witness the Gilded Age, low taxes, leading to a bubble economy in the 1920s and the Great Depression in the 1930's. Witness the New Deal, high taxes, leading to Age of America by 1945 that lasted until 1975 (about the time they started cutting taxes). Witness the Reagan Age, low taxes, leading to the bubble economy in the 2000s, and a new Great Depression in the 2010s.

Seems pretty clearcut to me. This bankrupt nation bears no resemblance to the America of the 1950s-1960s that boldly confronted racism, communism, sexism, poverty, Vietnam, and the moon and won on (almost) every count while remaining solvent, leading the world economically and in innovation, and working 20% fewer hours per work-week than it does now.

[dlatkinson1]

I wished I would''ve stuck to my guns when I talked to our broker last March about completely getting out of the market. That time, he talked us out of it. Fortunately, I stuck to my guns in early October, and we sold all of our stocks and mutual funds and put the proceeds into 3 and 4-month FDIC-insured CDs. Even with measly interest payments of about a .5% a year, we''re not going backwards anymore.

Of course, we need more than a half a percent interest to live on, as this was our retirement money. Still, I am in no hurry to move ANYTHING back into the market. I have absolutely no faith in Obama or the Democrats in Congress, spending borrowed money like the world was going to end next week. I think things will get MUCH WORSE before they get better, and the fact that short-term CDs are paying such pitiful interest is a reflection of how many others feel the same way.

[dlatkinson1]

I wished I would''ve stuck to my guns when I talked to our broker last March about completely getting out of the market. That time, he talked us out of it. Fortunately, I stuck to my guns in early October, and we sold all of our stocks and mutual funds and put the proceeds into 3 and 4-month FDIC-insured CDs. Even with measly interest payments of about a .5% a year, we''re not going backwards anymore.

Of course, we need more than a half a percent interest to live on, as this was our retirement money. Still, I am in no hurry to move ANYTHING back into the market. I have absolutely no faith in Obama or the Democrats in Congress, spending borrowed money like the world was going to end next week. I think things will get MUCH WORSE before they get better, and the fact that short-term CDs are paying such pitiful interest is a reflection of how many others feel the same way.

[jbrown88881]

"It''''s too bad that CBS can''''t find someone to write this column who actually knows something about markets and economics."


It''s a mystery what CBS sees in this clown. He has nothing to say. Perhaps he''s good at soothing the hemorrhoids of CBS execs. He is from San Francisco, ya know.

[jbrown88881]

"If Stocks Are in Turmoil, Blame the Feds "


Stocks aren''t in turmoil. It''s just that the Walstreeters are having a little temper tantrum because they''re not getting their suckie-suck like they got from Georgie Bushit and the Neoconscum.

Well, Walstreeters, you are irrelevant. We have learned that you just lie and cheat your way to money by stealing from us.

Get any money you have left OUT of Walstreet, and let the Bushit Banker Billionaires go suck sand.

It''s nothing but a swindle, so who cares what their phony numbers show?

[taxguydave]

OK, Declan

Actually read the SEC order that is linked to from the summary page your link points to. (I know, it''s 24 pages and has lots of long words...)

http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/2008/34-58592.pdf

You''ll see that the order is directed at "naked" short selling (which I believe should be illegal anyway). If you don''t know the difference between covered and uncovered short sales, then you''re out of your league here.

I''m not going to dig up one of your own articles. You know what you wrote and when you wrote it. Or at least you should...

As it happens, I charge enough for my tax and financial advice to somehow make a higher income than almost any journalist. Somehow, I manage to get away with it, and have for over 20 years.

[declanm-2009]

ubrew12: It''s trivially true that not all tax cuts lead to growth and not all tax increases lead to recession. But the edge cases don''t inform the general rule.

taxguydave: I hope that you don''t charge for your tax advice, because you don''t seem to have your facts right. The SEC announcement (http://tinyurl.com/4rext7) said the new rules "prohibit short selling in financial companies." Which is precisely what I said in the column. (Oh, and I don''t know what you''re talking about in terms of my alleged advice re: bond funds -- what URL are you referring to?)

indianaman13: I think I agree with you; executives who looted failing companies or committed fraud should share the blame. But this is a big issue, and my intention was to bite off just one corner of it here.

jxknowles: Remember the quote about history and those who are doomed to repeat it?

[ubrew12]

taxguydave said: "almost every increase in the top marginal tax rate has been followed by a strong period of economic growth (check it out--http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article
/0,,id=175910,00.html)."

Its a myth that tax cuts lead to growth and tax increases lead to recession. But what are statistics compared to 30 years of overwhelming Republican propaganda?

[taxguydave]

It''s too bad that CBS can''t find someone to write this column who actually knows something about markets and economics.

Short sales weren''t "suspended" at all. They were only required to be covered. Mortgages were renegotiable in bankruptcy for decades before the 2005 bankruptcy bill. The top marginal tax rate under FDR was 79%, not 75%, and only applied to income over $5 million.

Oddly enough, almost every increase in the top marginal tax rate has been followed by a strong period of economic growth (check it out--http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=175910,00.html).

Gee, Mr McCullagh, all of those evil socialist policies of FDR somehow didn''t lead to the US becoming a socialist state. We''re about as far away from socialism as any developed nation. Maybe you''re one of those who would prefer that the US became a third world nation, with big business calling all of the shots.

Of course, any analysis from this guy should be taken with a pound of salt. Recently, when called out on investing in stock-based mutual funds for retirement, he suggested bond funds, apparently not knowing that most bond funds were also down 20-40% year to date at the time.

[indianaman13]

No offense to the writer of this article, but blaming 2 presidents that have injected almost 1.5 trillion into the market instead of finance executives who have miss-used the money is backwards and idiotic. Its like blaming the Defense on a football team when the Quarterback throws an interception. If the Executives ran their companies within the law, within moral restraints, and without the obvious greed, government would not have had to give these executive devils 1.5 trillion and we would not be in this mess. Don''t blame the cleanup team, Republican or Democrat, for what Wall St. has done.

[docpeter1953]

That''s it, I can''t take any of this anymore. I am burning all my stock certificates and cash-on-hand. I am going to go out and live by pan handling and in homeless shelters until all of this economy stuff improves, then I will try to get a job and start all over. I want to be a ward of the state.

[jxknowles]

Declan McCullagh is a great Monday morning quarterback, but he fails to mention the public''s overall skepticism of Wall-Street and the Stock Market. When it became known how much self-regulation these guys were stuffing into their own pockets, it was clear the markets were a place to throw good money after bad. The Madoff incident shattered the bond between investor and broker for the foreseeable future.

Declan should look through the windshield and tell us where we are going, instead of staring at the rear view mirror. We don''t need historians at the current time. We know it''s bad. How do we fix it?