How Now Down Dow? - Continued

posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:55 PM Permalink

Another thing I thought of during the panic caused by massive stock sell-offs.

While listening to some idiotic talking head on CNN yesterday (I won't identify the pundit to spare him embarrassment) something he said caught my attention and really made me laugh, though I'm certain that was not his intent.

"You know, the economy has been so strong that we have set like 30 new records on the stock exchange since last October." He really said this with his bare face hanging out before god and everybody and man!, I almost laughed myself sick.

It seems that the punditry class is so desperate to maintain the charade of "a strong economy" that every tiny increase above the previous high is heralded as yet another sign that we should shut-up and be grateful for the wonderful monetary policies of the bush maladministration.

I hate to do this to them (not really), but I thought I'd just remind everyone of this annoying fact the Republic party would like everyone to forget. From Wikipedia:

From 1987 to 1995, the Dow rose each year by about 10%, but from 1995 to 2000, the Dow rose 15% a year.

If I 'member my 'rithmetic correctly that means the value of the stock market increased to 175% of its 1995 value by year 2000.

Now what was it about this that made me laugh? Oh! Yeah!

That happened on Bill Clinton's watch and constituted real growth and a real strong economy. Not an economy of smoke and mirrors and fuzzy math and cooked books and phony budget numbers; the real thing.

Funny how things work out sometimes.