US Stocks Down 15% in 2 Weeks

[Beet]

The Hang Seng down 6.2%

[Beet]

The Kospi is already down 6.4%. If the central banks don't play their cards right, tomorrow could be a 1,000+ point circuit breaker day for the Dow.

[J. J.]

Say you get paid $55,000 in 2011.  And you get paid $55,000 in 2012.

You go out and buy $55,000 worth of groceries in 2011.  You inventory them.

Then you go and buy $55,000 worth of groceries in 2012 after a 5% inflation in foodstuffs prices.  You inventory them.

You find you have 5% less food than in 2011.

Only in the mind of a hack Republican is that not a cut.

It is not a cut as much as it is devaluation of your money.  You $55 k is now, presumably less of a percentage of the GDP, which is good in this context (unless GDP contracts).

(I kind of agree with you, but this is a really bad analogy.)

[Marston]

Obama needs to do something. Anything. Standing up and saying that the U.S. is still a AAA Country isn't going to cut it. He needs to propose something. Heck, it could be a $2 trillion stimulus/jobs program. I know it wouldn't have a 1% chance of passing Congress but that isn't the point. History will judge harshly a leader who doesn't at least attempt to 'lead'. Obama just looks like a deer in the headlights. 

[Beet]

The Kospi is now down 8.5%. It is now down 18% in two and a half days. This is shaping up to be the worst crash in human history-- even worse than 2008.

[Sam Spade]

I'm kinda with KEmperor - now is probably a good time to buy some longs (not hold, of course), but it's like trying to catch a falling knife.

[Beet]

Massive rush into gold @1744

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Kospi is now down 8.5%. It is now down 18% in two and a half days. This is shaping up to be the worst crash in human history-- even worse than 2008.

2008 was not even close to the previous worse crash in human history.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And while you can argue the Dow hasn't hit bottom yet (and maybe it hasn't), it STILL hasn't dropped below it's opening at the beginning of the year.

[J. J.]

Massive rush into gold @1744

It's falling back Beet, 1742 and it was up higher than 1744.  It's a reaction to the Asian markets.

The Kospi is now down 8.5%. It is now down 18% in two and a half days. This is shaping up to be the worst crash in human history-- even worse than 2008.

Excessive hyperbole.  

Dow Futures are down 291.  I would not be surprised if we'd lose a digit.

[Beet]

I keep getting a 503 error at Zero Hedge.

[Beet]

Massive rush into gold @1744

It's falling back Beet, 1742 and it was up higher than 1744.  It's a reaction to the Asian markets.

The Kospi is now down 8.5%. It is now down 18% in two and a half days. This is shaping up to be the worst crash in human history-- even worse than 2008.

Excessive hyperbole.  

Dow Futures are down 291.  I would not be surprised if we'd lose a digit.

We are about 7% away from being worse than the worst week of 2008 for the S&P 500. And that was followed by a 1,000-point rally.

[J. J.]

Massive rush into gold @1744

It's falling back Beet, 1742 and it was up higher than 1744.  It's a reaction to the Asian markets.

The Kospi is now down 8.5%. It is now down 18% in two and a half days. This is shaping up to be the worst crash in human history-- even worse than 2008.

Excessive hyperbole.  

Dow Futures are down 291.  I would not be surprised if we'd lose a digit.

We are about 7% away from being worse than the worst week of 2008 for the S&P 500. And that was followed by a 1,000-point rally.

You don't have the structural problems you had in 2008, but you have Obama performing worse than G W Bush.

Dow will close below 10,000 at some point.

[Beet]

You have enough structural problems to bring down "the system".

Oil has finally given up the ghost -- $76.

[Bull Moose Base]

Obama needs to do something. Anything. Standing up and saying that the U.S. is still a AAA Country isn't going to cut it. He needs to propose something. Heck, it could be a $2 trillion stimulus/jobs program. I know it wouldn't have a 1% chance of passing Congress but that isn't the point. History will judge harshly a leader who doesn't at least attempt to 'lead'. Obama just looks like a deer in the headlights. 

He has proposed things the GOP has previously signaled openness to (a payroll tax holiday, infrastructure bank, new free trade agreements to spur job growth).  You may not love those ideas and it doesn't matter since the GOP will fight whatever he proposes.  He's also tried to calm any jitters from the downgrade by saying he'll be offering proposals to the Super-Committee and has threatened to veto any extension of Bush tax cuts that includes the wealthiest if there's no revenue in the SuperCongress deal (which circumvents a specific problem S&P had, even if it doesn't change the larger problem of partisan gridlock and the GOP taking the debt ceiling hostage).  I'd argue he is leading but if Republicans won't follow, they can't be forced.  The president is, by design, limited in what he can do legislatively.  And certainly in how he can affect the economy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So could gas prices drop below $3/gallon again? Huzzah!

[memphis]

So could gas prices drop below $3/gallon again? Huzzah!

This would actually provide some relief. Gas prices are almost always behind American economic problems. If gas can stay low, things will improve rapidly.

[J. J.]

Obama needs to do something. Anything. Standing up and saying that the U.S. is still a AAA Country isn't going to cut it. He needs to propose something. Heck, it could be a $2 trillion stimulus/jobs program. I know it wouldn't have a 1% chance of passing Congress but that isn't the point. History will judge harshly a leader who doesn't at least attempt to 'lead'. Obama just looks like a deer in the headlights. 

He has proposed things the GOP has previously signaled openness to (a payroll tax holiday, infrastructure bank, new free trade agreements to spur job growth).  You may not love those ideas and it doesn't matter since the GOP will fight whatever he proposes.  He's also tried to calm any jitters from the downgrade by saying he'll be offering proposals to the Super-Committee and has threatened to veto any extension of Bush tax cuts that includes the wealthiest if there's no revenue in the SuperCongress deal (which circumvents a specific problem S&P had, even if it doesn't change the larger problem of partisan gridlock and the GOP taking the debt ceiling hostage).  I'd argue he is leading but if Republicans won't follow, they can't be forced.  The president is, by design, limited in what he can do legislatively.  And certainly in how he can affect the economy.

I think they will, but not it the "change" consists of policy that have not worked for 40 years.

[opebo]

Obama had nothing to do with it.

So, if Obama has no role in legislation, we should elect someone who will. 

The President never has any role in legislation, J.J. - he's from the executive branch you see.  The Legislative Branch is the Congress.

I think they will, but not it the "change" consists of policy that have not worked for 40 years.

The policy of the last 40 years has been neo-liberalism, and it is neo-liberalism which has failed.  Keynesianism has been abandoned for that same period, and this is precisely why we are now in a depression.

Laissez faire capitalism = depression
Keynesianism = prosperity

[Ban my account ffs!]

You have enough structural problems to bring down "the system".

Oil has finally given up the ghost -- $76.

Oil is basically what drove us to this point.  Expensive oil, consumer spending is lackluster... so companies don't stock up on stuff and are reluctant to hire...

Oil will crash... the economy will start to mend slowly.  And then as soon as the economy shows signs of growing again (albeit from a lower position than we are now), oil will spike again.  And the process repeats itself.

This is what happens when we literally can't produce more oil than we already are.  You get price shock after price shock.  And then one day, there will be a collapse and we won't bounce back out of it.  No matter how much we drill off of Nantucket or in North Dakota or wherever. 

Thank God the climate change dogma has died back.  That might buy us a little time.

[opebo]

You have enough structural problems to bring down "the system".

Oil has finally given up the ghost -- $76.

Oil is basically what drove us to this point.  Expensive oil, consumer spending is lackluster... so companies don't stock up on stuff and are reluctant to hire...

Oil will crash... the economy will start to mend slowly.  And then as soon as the economy shows signs of growing again (albeit from a lower position than we are now), oil will spike again.  And the process repeats itself.

Wow, you are very off-base.  We are at this point because of poor government policy (neo-liberalism).

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I'd say "what a great opportunity to start buying up undervalued stock," but I'm about one piece of bad news away from putting my money in coffee cans and burying them in my back yard.

[J. J.]

Obama had nothing to do with it.

So, if Obama has no role in legislation, we should elect someone who will. 

The President never has any role in legislation, J.J. - he's from the executive branch you see.  The Legislative Branch is the Congress.

Ever hear of a veto?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The policy of the last 40 years has been neo-liberalism, and it is neo-liberalism which has failed.  Keynesianism has been abandoned for that same period, and this is precisely why we are now in a depression.


[/quote]

You are looking at a recycled police of government spending.  It has failed (though QE 1 did work).

[opebo]

The President never has any role in legislation, J.J. - he's from the executive branch you see.  The Legislative Branch is the Congress.

Ever hear of a veto?

The veto would have led to precisely the same collapse.  The only way to avoid the depression was for the Republican congress to raise taxes upon the rich.

[J. J.]

The President never has any role in legislation, J.J. - he's from the executive branch you see.  The Legislative Branch is the Congress.

Ever hear of a veto?

The veto would have led to precisely the same collapse.  The only way to avoid the depression was for the Republican congress to raise taxes upon the rich.

So Obama had the power, but lacked the leadership to use it.

Yes, there are two things, in tandem, to solve the fiscal problem, cut spending and raise revenue.

Does anyone know what percentage of revenue capital gains and corporate taxes bring in?