Markets Get Off The Mat

After Steep Early Decline Followed By Rate Cut, Stocks Limp Upward

(AP)  An unusual emergency interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve gave Wall Street a partial rebound Tuesday from a precipitious early decline - and perhaps the first steps toward a long-term recovery. The rest of the comeback, for the economy as well as the stock market, may depend on a turnaround in the battered housing market and renewed confidence among U.S. consumers.

The Dow Jones industrial average, down 465 points shortly after trading began, fluctuated throughout the session before closing with a milder drop of 128.11, or 1.06 percent, at 11,971.19, according to preliminary calculations.

U.S. stocks began the day following the lead of markets abroad that had plummeted for two straight days, and also extended their own steep losses from last week. Fears of a U.S. recession - one that would spread to other economies - had investors fleeing stocks worldwide.

The Fed, in a move anticipated by many traders, moved before the opening of trading, cutting its benchmark federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage point. The Dow and other major indexes spent the rest of the day fluctuating, at times approaching the break-even point before heading down again.

The fact stocks didn't continue their plunge was a positive sign, but economists and analysts said a full recovery wasn't likely in the near term. One of the market's greatest concerns is that consumers, who normally account for two-thirds of the economy, aren't in a position to spend the country back into solid growth. Even if rates continue to fall, Americans have been showing increasing signs of cutting back rather than borrowing or spending, even during the holiday season.

"People are up to their eyeballs in debt, and they're being asked to borrow more," said Mike Schenk, senior economist for the Credit Union National Association.

"This is a cure for the wrong disease. It makes everybody feel good, but it's not going to have any ongoing benefit," said Daniel Alpert, managing director of Westwood Capital LLC. "We need to get ourselves out of a mountain of debt and overvalued properties."

Still, interest rate reductions are one strategy the Fed has used in previous crises to help the economy recover.

The Fed lowered the target federal funds rate, or the interest banks charge one another for overnight loans, to 3.50 percent and the discount rate, the interest the Fed charges banks directly, to 4 percent.

This rate cut was unusual, coming between regularly scheduled meetings of the central bank's policy-making Open Markets Committee. The next gathering is a week away. Also, the cut was larger than the half-percentage point anticipated to be announced at the end of that two-day meeting, and the widest cut in the target fed funds rate on records going back to 1990.

A rate cut tends to spur the economy by making it cheaper for businesses to borrow money. It would also lighten the burden on people with credit card debt and mortgages that have adjustable rates.

But its effect on Wall Street wasn't overwhelmingly positive. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, the broad market measure most closely followed by traders, fell 14.69, or 1.11 percent, to 1,310.50, while the Nasdaq composite index lost 47.75, or 2.04 percent, to 2,292.27.

Stocks have been beaten down amid the mortgage and credit crisis. The Dow, for example, is down nearly 10 percent since the beginning of the year - logging its worst first 14 trading days of the year ever. It is more than 15 percent since its record close of 14,16.53 on Oct. 9, and is at its lowest close since Oct. 17, 2006.

[realpatriot1]

After 7 years of fiscal irresponsibility he expects a quick fix.

Here''s a quick fix George, stop throwing money down the rathole of the Iraqi Muslim civil War and invest in healthcare, education, and alternative energy to create jobs.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Bush, Lawmakers Seek Quick Fiscal Fix"

Great!

Quick, easy, fixes by imbeciles always work out so well.

Re: "Sour Economy Brings Political Consensus; U.S. Trading Expected To Open With A Dive"

I am looking forward to it. Bring it on!

[watcher269-2009]

A Bushit Quick fix -- yeah right -- it''s like a Quick War!

[watcher269-2009]

Wow - put $20 dollars in my hand -after taxes - for what - A gallon of Gas?

Bushit Flunk economics - why do people still believe in him and is economic plans?

[watcher269-2009]

History will be kind to George Bush, but only because history books never use phrases like "dumb fvck".

----

No but they do use phrases like Intellectually Challenged!

[brianbwb-2009]

"Quick fix''" is what heroin or coke junkies crave, just a short respite from the general despair of sobriety. It is only fitting that the coke head in chief uses this methodology.

What is needed is infrastructure modernization, roads, rails, schools, hospitals, telecommunications, urban re-planning and renewal, large projects that can provide lasting jobs for the decimated middle class.

It also implies that all of the legislators care more about their booty on the side than about the middle and bottom economic wage earners, they want to only appear as if they are concerned, this is why the worlds'' stock markets have all analyzed the measures publicly discussed, and collectively told Bush to anal-ize his non plan. Shooting elephants with rubber bands won''t accomplish jack.

[feelfree1]

Hey Bushwackers!

I''ve got your "stimulus package" right here!!!

[brianbwb-2009]

"...Republicans and Mr. Bush declined to insist on extending the president''s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that expire in three years, while Democrats offered up tax breaks for business and limited their roster of spending proposals. Democrats also agreed to waive budget rules requiring tax increases to finance the measure."

Good faith? totally screw*ing the less than elites is good faith? Here is the proof that there are no more "liberals" or "conservatives", both have become economic fascists, hell bent on creating a permanent aristocracy in a society about to collapse from its own corruption.

[walkedby-2009]

Adrian once was over-weighted. YOu can still view his old photos on plussingle.com.

[trillion1]

Until workers have more money to spent things won''t change. Rich CEOs would be on the streets if it weren''t for the workers who made the company profitable but the American workers are the last cosideration in this country.

[feelfree1]

Now I understand why we had the sudden fake "Zawahiri: Stump the Terrorist" article.

These ghouls are really getting to be transparent.

[taotxzen]

(cont)

This is, in short, a time when progressives ought to be driving home the idea that the right%u2019s ideas don%u2019t work, and never have.

It%u2019s not just a matter of what happens in the next election. Mr. Clinton won his elections, but - as Mr. Obama correctly pointed out - he didn%u2019t change America%u2019s trajectory the way Reagan did. Why?
Well, I%u2019d say that the great failure of the Clinton administration - more important even than its failure to achieve health care reform, though the two failures were closely related - was the fact that it didn%u2019t change the narrative, a fact demonstrated by the way Republicans are still claiming to be the next Ronald Reagan.

Now progressives have been granted a second chance to argue that Reaganism is fundamentally wrong: once again, the vast majority of Americans think that the country is on the wrong track. But they won%u2019t be able to make that argument if their political leaders, whatever they meant to convey, seem to be saying that Reagan had it right.

Paul Krugman is Professor of Economics at Princeton University and a regular New York Times columnist. His most recent book is The Conscience of a Liberal.

[taotxzen]

(cont)

But why would a self-proclaimed progressive say anything that lends credibility to this rewriting of history - particularly right now, when Reaganomics has just failed all over again?

Like Ronald Reagan, President Bush began his term in office with big tax cuts for the rich and promises that the benefits would trickle down to the middle class. Like Reagan, he also began his term with an economic slump, then claimed that the recovery from that slump proved the success of his policies.

And like Reaganomics - but more quickly - Bushonomics has ended in grief. The public mood today is as grim as it was in 1992. Wages are lagging behind inflation. Employment growth in the Bush years has been pathetic compared with job creation in the Clinton era. Even if we don%u2019t have a formal recession - and the odds now are that we will - the optimism of the 1990s has evaporated.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

For example, I%u2019m not sure what %u201Cdynamism%u201D means, but if it means productivity growth, there wasn%u2019t any resurgence in the Reagan years. Eventually productivity did take off - but even the Bush administration%u2019s own Council of Economic Advisers dates the beginning of that takeoff to 1995.

Similarly, if a sense of entrepreneurship means having confidence in the talents of American business leaders, that didn%u2019t happen in the 1980s, when all the business books seemed to have samurai warriors on their covers. Like productivity, American business prestige didn%u2019t stage a comeback until the mid-1990s, when the U.S. began to reassert its technological and economic leadership.

I understand why conservatives want to rewrite history and pretend that these good things happened while a Republican was in office - or claim, implausibly, that the 1981 Reagan tax cut somehow deserves credit for positive economic developments that didn%u2019t happen until 14 or more years had passed. (Does Richard Nixon get credit for %u201CMorning in America%u201D?)

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

Maybe Mr. Obama was, as his supporters insist, simply praising Reagan%u2019s political skills. (I think he was trying to curry favor with a conservative editorial board, which did in fact endorse him.) But where in his remarks was the clear declaration that Reaganomics failed?

For it did fail. The Reagan economy was a one-hit wonder. Yes, there was a boom in the mid-1980s, as the economy recovered from a severe recession. But while the rich got much richer, there was little sustained economic improvement for most Americans. By the late 1980s, middle-class incomes were barely higher than they had been a decade before - and the poverty rate had actually risen.

When the inevitable recession arrived, people felt betrayed - a sense of betrayal that Mr. Clinton was able to ride into the White House.

Given that reality, what was Mr. Obama talking about? Some good things did eventually happen to the U.S. economy - but not on Reagan%u2019s watch.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

Debunking the Reagan Myth
by Paul Krugman

Historical narratives matter. That%u2019s why conservatives are still writing books denouncing F.D.R. and the New Deal; they understand that the way Americans perceive bygone eras, even eras from the seemingly distant past, affects politics today.
And it%u2019s also why the furor over Barack Obama%u2019s praise for Ronald Reagan is not, as some think, overblown. The fact is that how we talk about the Reagan era still matters immensely for American politics.

Bill Clinton knew that in 1991, when he began his presidential campaign. %u201CThe Reagan-Bush years,%u201D he declared, %u201Chave exalted private gain over public obligation, special interests over the common good, wealth and fame over work and family. The 1980s ushered in a Gilded Age of greed and selfishness, of irresponsibility and excess, and of neglect.%u201D

Contrast that with Mr. Obama%u2019s recent statement, in an interview with a Nevada newspaper, that Reagan offered a %u201Csense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.%u201D

(cont)

[brianbwb-2009]

Now I understand why we had the sudden fake "Zawahiri: Stump the Terrorist" article.
These ghouls are really getting to be transparent.
Posted by FeelFree1

Ahh, now you''re getting it, now remember all of the video releases, and what bush was up to at the time of their release, and you will see an unmistakable syncronization, the strongest proof that Al Qaeda is a CIA pawn.

Listen to the questions and answers given and not given, it is quite clear that Bin Laden is waiting for his next assignment from the CIA, and in the meantime has no idea about what he wants his gang to do next.

[boatdocster]

If Bush can find a "real" quick fix to our 9 trillion dollar debt, which is starting to bear down us, the history books might actually be kind to him.

5.5 Trillion to 9 Trillion in 7 years under Bush, and what do we have to show for it? Plenty for Haliburton and Defense contractors... and for the rest of us, we get to pay the bill!!

[olebd]

They can keep the Chinese paycheck they send to me. I won''t be buying anything in protest of this crazy administration. And there''s Nancy Pelosi, going right along with the Bush program. What a shame.

[skyk-2009]

And there''''s Nancy Pelosi, going right along with the Bush program. What a shame.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by olebd at 07:30 AM : Jan 22, 2008
+ report abuse

What would you suggest she do?

[feelfree1]

skyk,

Re: "What would you suggest she do?"

Russian roulette expo on Capitol Hill- no empty chambers.

That would be an excellent start.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by lexluthor5

I have posted much worse, so perhaps we''ll meet in the same secret detention cell. I think the "whiff" you mentioned is already a full fledged, nose dissolving, butyl mercaptan grade stink.

The traitors have lied, and spilled the blood of our children for profit, they have bankrupted an already illusory economy, and their wild threats to those who control the oil has made the world more dangerous, and themselves richer.

And the ones coming in think that they can continue this mess, taking their piece of the pie, and that America can survive an economic meltdown.

This summer, it will very likely become necessary to "take it to the streets", but we must be careful, and direct our anger not at each other, but only at the perps, and their assets.

[olebd]

What would you suggest she do?

Posted by skyk at 07:34 AM : Jan 22, 2008

I''d like to see her put up some sort of resistance and encourage the rest of her party to tell Bush what a mess he has made and continues to make and layout/announce to the people what better plans the democrats have to reverse course. But alas, at the end of the day, both sides seem as if they are grabbing what they can for themselves at the same pace.

[sharncedar]

Let''s look at what is encouraging about this. it shows that the gross, america-hating leadership in business and government now acknowledges that the "economy" they have been so busy dismantling really depends on the great mass of people. The rich in this country, who are nothing more than filthy maggots feeding on the work and dreams of the citizens, have in fact admitted that they need the body they are feeding on, that they need the rest of us to perhaps have jobs and maybe a little economic power.

This is a first step, since my experience with this class of cowardly and ruthless and destructive idiots over the last few years gave me the impression they thought they could destroy America and stay rich anyhow - they were saying flippant and violent things like they would somehow be "international" bankers when the pathetic Americans couldn''t support them as if anyone in another country would want these scum to destroy their economy calling it globalization. They have their own bankers to steal from them, they don''t want ours. Also the banking industry follows the money, which follows the income from production of goods and services. A country which doesn''t produce goods and services doesn''t really need any bankers.

Are the maggots realizing this at last? Next step is they begin to turn on each other, and self-destruct. We are better at suffering then they are; we can ride this out, but thank god it will destroy these maggots.

[ewinstedal]

Well I for one do not see how these LITTLE checks are going to help our economy!
I agree it might get us a meal at McDonalds or a couple extra tanks of gas!
We have got to have some drastic measures in this country on we are all up a creek with out a paddle!
I would like to see the people in Washington live off of Min. wage for 3 months of I will go one better let them live off of $10.00 an hour that is the going pay in the south. Lets see how long they make it when you pay 200.00 to 300.00 per month just to heat your home and over $3.00 a gallon for gas and lets not forget that the Chickens are on strike and Egg are at $2.00 a dozen and milk 4.oo + a gallon. and those little checks are suppose to boost economy??????? What a Joke!

[crater7]

BUSH HAS LED US ALL TO BELIEVE THAT THE ECONOMY IS GREAT. NOW BUSH AND HIS BUSH-ENOMICS-TEAM, TELLS US THAT AFTER HIS QUICK FIX PLAN, ALL WILL BE FINE.

THE ECONOMY WILL BE UP AND "RUNNING LIKE A BUNNY."

I BELIEVE HIM.

YEA RIGHT!

THIS COMMING FROM OUR HONORABLE LEADER, THE ONE THAT HAS PROCLAIMED, HE IS A PEACEMAKER AND GOD''S CHOSEN ONE TO BE PRESIDENT.

YOU GOTTA-LOVE IT........

[brianbwb-2009]

HEY BRI,WE''''LL START AREVOLUTION! FLUSH THE CHECK!
Posted by lexluthor5

I would agree, but the fact is there won''t be any checks, there will be an extra book of food stamps, for those on the program, and maybe one more week of unemployment for the newly laid off, but, as you can see by the reaction of the world stock markets, the world knows that this is useless, the lies are coming home to roost, and the fake economy of the Reagan trickle down, easy credit, borrowed economic boom years, is about to be introduced to reality.

Welcome to the third world, America.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Fed Issues Dramatic Rate Cut"

No ***, CBS!

"USAyesterday" already scooped you on this information.

[b-easy63]

It doesn''''''''t matter to the middle class when jobs (what there is of them) are paying much less than 8 years ago. "Job security" is now considered an oxymoron.


We have not had job security in America since the 1970s. At that time a "hire and fire at will policy was adopted for everyone who was either salaried or hourly who did not have a contract of some sort. The only people protected from such arbitrary and often times, unfair practices were those with tenure, those with golden parachutes and those with Unions.

Unions often get the worst rap, but the truth is, that the only thing keeping the natural selfishness and greed in check of most employers is the collective power the union gives workers. Before unions, employers did not make sure workplaces were safe, would often stiff workers or force them to keep unsafe hours without compensation and exploited them in a number of ways. People forget that as pro business has spread continual anti-union press for the past 30 years. The fact is, on their own, businesses could care less about the worker or who is their worker. The bottom line is money and the fact of outsourcing is not due to unions but due to our government protecting those whose loyalty often extends outside of America.

[b-easy63]

Paradoxically, I have never belonged to a Union and have no desire to work with them--that is because they have become over bureaucratic and self serving also--the only reason companies try to match union payscales or benefits is to keep their employees from having unions. If the unions ever disappeared, you''d find wages below the federal minimum, monopolies and wage fixing and intimidation by owners--a good book to read is "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, we really have not changed much since that time--don''t buy into the anti union hype--it is about as American helpful as NAFTA.

[citizenusa-2009]

Bush and his gang of thugs have brought this country to it''s knees. How about checking THEIR personal balance sheets? Bush, Cheney, Libby, Rumsfeld etc. have become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams during this bloody seven years. Can you say OIL AND HALIBURTON? I knew you could!!

[nothappyatall]

would like to see the people in Washington live off of Min. wage for 3 months of I will go one better let them live off of $10.00 an hour that is the going pay in the south. Lets see how long they make it when you pay 200.00 to 300.00 per month just to heat your home and over $3.00 a gallon for gas and lets not forget that the Chickens are on strike and Egg are at $2.00 a dozen and milk 4.oo + a gallon. and those little

Posted by ewinstedal "

Depends on where you live, now me, I was smart, I bought a 2 BR farmhouse in the midwest cheap on 1/2 acre of land for UNDER ten grand and paid the mortgage off in 4 years easy.
I bough a used but good car for $900 that lasted 8 years with almost no problems at all, now on a second similar car. I have ONE credit card, no mortgage no car payments, cashola stashed away into 4 figures and I''m quite comfortable.
I could live comfortably on $500 a month, and do ok on $400
Time for all of y''all to learn how to live within your means and not live in a $295,000 house you need to make $2,000 a week to live in!!!
I do $13 grand on Ebay alone as a hobby in my spare time.

[omega39-2009]

Woo-Hoo, my credit card interest rate just went down! Unfortunately, everything else just went up....Doh''

[neoconrcrazy]

we''ll see if this new liquidity goes to lessen the burden on mortgage holders or to fuel mergers & acquistions.....

[citizenusa-2009]

How much is it costing us to fund the IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WARS? How much will it cost us to fix and comfort the 30,000 who sacrificed themselves for "The Decider"? Contrast this against the pennies (bribes) that Baby Bush and Company thinks we are stupid enough to "gratefully accept". Sickening!!!

[omega39-2009]

BlackWater is Coming
BlackWater is Coming
BlackWater is Coming

Posted by beecuster

Only if they get paid in Euros

[king77shaw]

LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS ! ...

1) CANCEL YOUR CABLE TV: let the corporate media moguls (and their advertisers) know that you will no longer pay for their propaganda ..

2) STOP INVESTING YOUR MONEY ON WALL ("WAR") STREET: corporate America is selling out the middle class to the lowest global bidder and using our own money to do it; the financial markets will push for anything that increases profits - especially war .. best to invest your money in land, real estate, gold and silver%u2026

3) SUPPORT LOCAL ECONOMIES !
- Buy from local manufacturers, local retailers, local craftspeople/artisans, etc.
- if possible, BURN WOOD for heat;
- support local growers or grow some of your own food;
- implement alternative energy sources (solar, hybrid autos etc ..)
- develop local means of commerce not based on the failing US dollar ..

4) STOP UNNECESSARY CONSUMPTION & STOP USING YOUR CREDIT CARD ! think twice about what you buy; is it absolutely necessary ? who does it ultimately support ?

5) DECENTRALIZE ! - the global economy is nothing more than a ploy to centralize power, control and wealth into the hands of an elite few - blinded by misinformation, the American people are buying right into it - the rich get richer and the middle class is quickly becoming the working poor ...

[antoniof123]

Got to hand it to the Republicans they said the government doesn''t work and they proved it.

The only problem is they took us on a boat ride with a double barrel shotgun and fired at the hull. Then they said see the boat doesn''t work.

Not only did they screw up this country they have screwed up the world. They should be proud of their accomplishments.

Now this should help us keep our friends don''t you think.

[underdogus]

SADDLE UP THE THIRD HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE!!

[citizenusa-2009]

Michael Moore hit the nail on the head in his 911 movie. Unfortunately the American people were not intelligent enough to understand that the film was a DOCUMENTARY, NOT FICTION! WE WERE WARNED!!!!!

[b-easy63]

Posted by newster1 at 08:56 AM : Jan 22, 2008


It''s good that you found a cheap house to pay off. it is good that you do not have to go where a certain job is located. Most professional people do. I think it is wonderful that you can pay off your debts and live on very little--but not everyone can. If 300 MILLION people decided to head for the Midwest or a place to have cheaper homes--wouldn''t that be great? The problem is, most Americans cannot afford to live where they want to--they have to go where their employer tells them to or where the jobs are.

The simple truth is: All those people you point out spend to much, help to keep the American engine running that allows folks like you to get away to small farms and live on very little. While you crow about how little you have and wax (envious) about the money others waste, it is their money that helps to build bridges, roads, traffic lights, helps to subsidize energy to your home or allow you to feed it back on the grid and it is their money and hard work that ensures you get a little extra on ebay. The fact is, if everyone existed like you did, our GNP would be worse than Tonga''s or some other 4th world country.

Enjoy your small home in the Midwest--but be careful. lest the hordes take you up on "EZ livin" cuz you could never have enough bullets or resources in the world to weather the tumult if everyone joined you in skimp city. WE go where the jobs are--we do that to make a living--we all can''t be skaters or skimpers.

[olebd]

If this country goes down the toilet, I''m grabbing the Jimmy Buffet records and will hunker down to live a beach bum way of life :) LOL What else can we do?

[omega39-2009]

If this country goes down the toilet, I''''m grabbing the Jimmy Buffet records and will hunker down to live a beach bum way of life :) LOL What else can we do?
Posted by olebd

Well they still haven''t built that fence along the border, I say we sneak into Mexico and look for work.

[georgew1956]

if it was that easy it should have been done long ago.

dragon *** is what they are all about and your watching it live.

[citizenusa-2009]

"CONSUMER CONFIDENCE" IS AN OXYMORON.

[b-easy63]

Posted by king77shaw at 09:07 AM : Jan 22, 2008


In striving for a one-world economy there were 2 hurdles:

1. The ethnocentric and autonomous nature of the European countries

2. The individualism and autonomy and patriotism of America.

It was known that most other countries would go along with the idea due to the large influx of help and cash it would bring. With the advent of the EU, the drawing together of Europe under one currency was realized--this left America and the need for them also to give up their currency for a one world currency and government.

Everyone thought it would be difficult and take generations--but in the late 1970s, they discovered a marvelous thing about most American businessmen: They''d sell their own grandmother to make a buck. and they''d ignore their grandmothers screams and rage as the world fvcked her. The fact is, America was sold out long ago to the Japanese and anyone else with enough money. The manifestation was in destroying our own gov., globilization, outsourcing, insourcing and the various NAFTA, CAFTAs and intercontinental business agreements. The world forces wondered if the Americans would buy it or note what was happening.

We bought it, and we are beginning to note what is happening. Now the question is, will we join the one world gov? Or will we resist and insist on being still Americans?

[radiob-2009]

Posted by king77shaw

Hmmm it is winter here with a 1 inch of snow on the ground and more falling, what could I plant? Iceberg lettuce?

[mom_o_truth]

Perfect timing to save a crash in the stock market not the economy. This move benefits share holders of big corps. This move does not benefit the middle class unless the the 30 year lending rate moves down in the same pace to help the increasing amount of foreclosures and stimulate the ailing housing market.

[radiob-2009]

Perfect timing to save a crash in the stock market not the economy. This move benefits share holders of big corps. This move does not benefit the middle class unless the the 30 year lending rate moves down in the same pace to help the increasing amount of foreclosures and stimulate the ailing housing market.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Mom_O_Truth


And do what generate more sub prime mortgages? Sell more homes to individuals that cannot finance a toilet under normal banking procedures?

[olebd]

Well they still haven''''t built that fence along the border, I say we sneak into Mexico and look for work.


Posted by omega39 at 09:16 AM : Jan 22, 2008

Great idea! I''ll go down and live illegaly in one of their resort cities. Hey wait, they don''t accept illegals like we do.