Market Now Down 32% Since Obama Took Office

When he took office on January 20, the Dow was at 9625, and it closed today at 6546, down 32 percent in the last 50 days.

Imagine that: virtually a full third of our economy is just gone now. Well over two trillion dollars in American wealth has now gone to money heaven.

Now THAT is “Change you can believe in!” Get ready for more and more similar “change” (defined as your money changing hands into the government’s coffers) as we proceed through this “historic” Obama presidency.

Mind you, the only people who are surprised by the crashing economy are Democrats and liberals.

Newsmax had a story out in June 2008 titled, “President Obama and the Coming Stock Market Crash.” See if anything resonates 9 months after it was written:

How destructive to the U.S. economy would a Barack Obama presidency be?

An exclusive Newsmax analysis warns: There could be a very rough time ahead.

Beneath Obama’s flowery rhetoric lies a dangerous economic plan that will wreak havoc on the American economy.

Obama plans to return to the failed policies of high taxation coupled with an expansion of government spending.

Worse, Obama says he is absolutely committed to almost doubling the capital gains rate — something he will easily accomplish with a Democrat Congress.

In the coming months — when investors realize that Obama will raise the cap gains rate — there could be a stampede of asset sales as investors rush to take their profits now to avoid Obama’s doubling of the tax rates next year.

Former Clinton Administration official Dick Morris wrote the following in March 2008 in his book Fleeced:

“Obama’s election will trigger a stock market crash and likely devastate the already slumping real estate industry. A selling psychology usually feeds upon itself and can often induce a market-wide panic. So the nearer Obama gets to power the faster the markets are likely to dip. So look for a sharp downturn as election day approaches, and especially in the period between the Democratic victory and Inauguration day. Obama will doubtless blame the drop on the outgoing Bush Administration, but it will be his own tax plans that send the markets into a tizzy.”

Chief executive officers certainly aren’t suprised by the dramatic economic implosion under Barack Obama:

Chief Executive Magazine’s most recent polling of 751 CEOs shows that GOP presidential candidate John McCain is the preferred choice for CEOs. According to the poll, which is featured on the cover of Chief Executive’s most recent issue, by a four-to-one margin, CEOs support Senator John McCain over Senator Barack Obama. Moreover, 74 percent of the executives say they fear that an Obama presidency would be disastrous for the country…..

In expressing their rejection of Senator Obama, some CEOs who responded to the survey went as far as to say that “some of his programs would bankrupt the country within three years, if implemented.” In fact, the poll highlights that Obama’s tax policies, which scored the lowest grade in the poll, are particularly unpopular among CEOs.

The question is, when will the mainstream media – which for the most part hasn’t had a negative thing to say about Barack Obama since he announced his candidacy for president – hold Barack Obama responsible for the economy that is crumbling under him even as he announces further policies that are causing it to crumble more and ever more?

Right now it would appear that Barack Obama is employing a strategy that Ayn Rand warned us about:

“One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary.”

Kevin Hassett (Director of Economic Policy Studies and a Senior Fellow at AEI, and co-author of Dow 36,000) wrote an article titled, “‘Manchurian Candidate'” Starts War on Business” to put Ayn Rand’s conspiracy theory (now we can simply rightly call it a “prediction”) into perspective:

It is no wonder that markets are imploding around us. Obama is giving us the War on Business.

Imagine that some hypothetical enemy state spent years preparing a “Manchurian Candidate” to destroy the U.S. economy once elected. What policies might that leader pursue?

He might discourage private capital from entering the financial sector by instructing his Treasury secretary to repeatedly promise a brilliant rescue plan, but never actually have one. Private firms, spooked by the thought of what government might do, would shy away from transactions altogether. If the secretary were smooth and played rope-a-dope long enough, the whole financial sector would be gone before voters could demand action.

Another diabolical idea would be to significantly increase taxes on whatever firms are still standing. That would require subterfuge, since increasing tax rates would be too obvious. Our Manchurian Candidate would have plenty of sophisticated ideas on changing the rules to get more revenue without increasing rates, such as auctioning off “permits.”

And you can add to that CNBC’s Larry Kudlow’s (host of “The Kudlow Report”) article title to that: “Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and More.”

Whether due to sabotage or just shocking incompetence, Barack Obama is clearly going to prove to be a lot more “change” than Americans bargained for.

This entry was posted on March 10, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Conservative Issues, Democrats, Economy, fascism, Media, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

8 Responses to “Market Now Down 32% Since Obama Took Office”

GG Says:
September 21, 2009 at 12:14 pm
First off, the Dow closed at 7949 the day Obama was sworn in (not 9625), and its lowest close of the year was 6547, which represents a drop of 18%. The market is now up 23% since Obama took office 8 months ago, for some reason I am guessing the author of this report does not feel we should give the credit to Obama, even though the blame (as inaccurate as the calculations were) was surely his fault…
Michael Eden Says:
September 21, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I do note that the CBS article that I cited now has the following:

“Correction: This post originally said the Dow was down 32 percent since President Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The Dow is down 32 percent since his election on Nov. 4, 2008 and 18 percent since his inauguration.”

While I always fact check things I get in my email, or unsourced “facts” that I find in internet searches, I usually don’t factcheck “facts” in major media articles. Perhaps I need to start.

And if Obama was so good for the market, one has to wonder why investment plummeted so dramatically following his election. The other articles I cite (such as the one with the CEO Magazine poll would seem to explain why.

I don’t know if you are referring to the CBS article, or to me, when you offer your smarmy “author of this report” line.

Allow me to turn the tables on YOU: If Obama should receive credit for the gain in the Dow, then I should very much hope that you will blame him for any subsequent DROP in the Dow.

One of the things I see is that a lot of investors who felt they were burned after panic-selling as the market dropped are now panic-buying as the market gains. My own view is that they are going to end up getting burned twice.

Here’s a Wikipedia passage on the Great Depression:

The Great Depression was not triggered by a sudden, total collapse in the stock market. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April, though still almost 30 percent below the peak of September 1929.[7] Together, government and business actually spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. But consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut back their expenditures by ten percent, and a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the USA beginning in the summer of 1930.

In early 1930, credit was ample and available at low rates, but people were reluctant to add new debt by borrowing. By May 1930, auto sales had declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices in general began to decline, but wages held steady in 1930, then began to drop in 1931. Conditions were worst in farming areas, where commodity prices plunged, and in mining and logging areas, where unemployment was high and there were few other jobs. The decline in the American economy was the factor that pulled down most other countries at first, then internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better. Frantic attempts to shore up the economies of individual nations through protectionist policies, such as the 1930 U.S. Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and retaliatory tariffs in other countries, exacerbated the collapse in global trade. By late in 1930, a steady decline set in which reached bottom by March 1933.

What I find interesting is that we are currently experiencing our 2nd highest stock market rally in US history. Do you want to guess when we had our highest stock market rally?

You guessed it: just before the GREAT DEPRESSION.
Mr. Man Says:
March 28, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Hey [expletive], do you see where the stock market is now??? When President Obama took office the stock market closed @ 7949, it is now @ 10,850, that represents an increase of over 35%. I posted here before about your LYING, and I see that you are still at it. Why don’t you step in front of a bus, you would be doing AMERICA, a favor.
Michael Eden Says:
March 29, 2010 at 12:57 pm
You kiss your mother with that filthy mouth of yours, Mr. Man?

I went ahead and posted this (after cleaning up your profanity) simply because I wanted to show how superior we conservatives are to liberals. We actually tolerate disagreement. No fairness doctrine for us.

You call me a liar and tell me you posted before about my lying. Of course, you don’t seem to have the integrity to A) point out where I lied, and B) point out where you posted about my “lying.” I’d like to see the record of both.

I also wanted to point out that liberals are decrying all the “hate” from Republicans, when Republicans don’t even BEGIN to hold a candle to liberal hate.

Why don’t you step in front of a bus, you would be doing AMERICA, a favor

is an incredibly hateful statement. Why are you so incredibly hateful, so fundamentally intolerant, and so full of violence???

I quoted CBS News. I didn’t quote the hated Rush Limbaugh or the evil Fox News. CBS. Uncle Walter’s old stomping grounds. I most certainly did NOT lie. I provided an exact quote of what they had in the belief that they were accurate. I guess I should have got my news from Fox – the most trusted name in news. Right, Mr. Man?

The link I used now has this since I quoted it:
Correction: This post originally said the Dow was down 32 percent since President Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The Dow is down 32 percent since his election on Nov. 4, 2008 and 18 percent since his inauguration.

I don’t have a genetic memory of every day’s Dow close numbers. I had to look it up, and got the figure from CBS.

I suppose I should have known that CBS – which had been such a loyal propagandist for Obama – would be wrong. But I certainly wasn’t lying.

I got out of the stock market in August 2008 when it looked like Obama might actually pull out the election. None of the stocks I was invested in have YET come back to the levels they were at when I bailed. I put my money in gold, and made out quite well distrusting Obama.

I posted this on December 2008 (when Bush was still president) from a Wikipedia article to show that the stock market goes up, and comes down – even in the Great Depression:

The Great Depression was not triggered by a sudden, total collapse in the stock market. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April, though still almost 30 percent below the peak of September 1929.[7] Together, government and business actually spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. But consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut back their expenditures by ten percent, and a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the USA beginning in the summer of 1930.

In early 1930, credit was ample and available at low rates, but people were reluctant to add new debt by borrowing. By May 1930, auto sales had declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices in general began to decline, but wages held steady in 1930, then began to drop in 1931. Conditions were worst in farming areas, where commodity prices plunged, and in mining and logging areas, where unemployment was high and there were few other jobs. The decline in the American economy was the factor that pulled down most other countries at first, then internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better. Frantic attempts to shore up the economies of individual nations through protectionist policies, such as the 1930 U.S. Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and retaliatory tariffs in other countries, exacerbated the collapse in global trade. By late in 1930, a steady decline set in which reached bottom by March 1933.

After quoting that, I said:
Keep in mind that OUR stock market began to tank only a little over two months ago. And if the exact same thing were to happen now that it did to the United States in the 1930s, we actually would expect our market to pick up significantly in the coming months – and our economy to even appear to be rebounding – shortly before a downward slope into collapse that would occur one to three years later. It wasn’t until March 1933 – 3 years and 4 months after the Black Tuesday stock market crash – that the bottom really fell out of our economy.

Now, based on that, should I be astounded that the stock market has come back up? The fact of the matter is that I PREDICTED the stock market would come back up – “significantly” – before Obama even came into office.

2010 will likely be a fairly good year, partially because Obama’s huge tax hikes on income and capital gains don’t come into effect until the end of the year. People will make some big ticket purchases before the Obama taxes come into effect, and sell stock to take their profits this year, in anticipation of those taxes. 2011 will be a real bad year for the economy.
Raoulnortefaa Says:
May 20, 2011 at 9:37 am
Lmao, you are about as intelligent as a box of rocks. ~7500 when Obama took over, ~12500 now. Maybe you should apply your same “brilliant” analysis to the Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2 administrations.

Your party is a complete and utter failure. Only a delusional and ignorant fool would believe what you’ve posted here. You fit in perfectly with the Republican party, no matter how many facts you’re shown, you will stick to your ignorance. Good luck with that, you really need it.
Michael Eden Says:
May 20, 2011 at 2:47 pm
I won’t comment on your intelligence. But I certainly will point out that you probabely should have read my comment immediately above your own before attacking mine.

I wrote even PRIOR to the article you are attacking:

I posted this on December 2008 (when Bush was still president) from a Wikipedia article to show that the stock market goes up, and comes down – even in the Great Depression:

The Great Depression was not triggered by a sudden, total collapse in the stock market. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April, though still almost 30 percent below the peak of September 1929.[7] Together, government and business actually spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. But consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut back their expenditures by ten percent, and a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the USA beginning in the summer of 1930.

In early 1930, credit was ample and available at low rates, but people were reluctant to add new debt by borrowing. By May 1930, auto sales had declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices in general began to decline, but wages held steady in 1930, then began to drop in 1931. Conditions were worst in farming areas, where commodity prices plunged, and in mining and logging areas, where unemployment was high and there were few other jobs. The decline in the American economy was the factor that pulled down most other countries at first, then internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better. Frantic attempts to shore up the economies of individual nations through protectionist policies, such as the 1930 U.S. Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and retaliatory tariffs in other countries, exacerbated the collapse in global trade. By late in 1930, a steady decline set in which reached bottom by March 1933.

After quoting that, I said:
Keep in mind that OUR stock market began to tank only a little over two months ago. And if the exact same thing were to happen now that it did to the United States in the 1930s, we actually would expect our market to pick up significantly in the coming months – and our economy to even appear to be rebounding – shortly before a downward slope into collapse that would occur one to three years later. It wasn’t until March 1933 – 3 years and 4 months after the Black Tuesday stock market crash – that the bottom really fell out of our economy.

Now, based on that, should I be astounded that the stock market has come back up? The fact of the matter is that I PREDICTED the stock market would come back up – “significantly” – before Obama even came into office.

2010 will likely be a fairly good year, partially because Obama’s huge tax hikes on income and capital gains don’t come into effect until the end of the year. People will make some big ticket purchases before the Obama taxes come into effect, and sell stock to take their profits this year, in anticipation of those taxes. 2011 will be a real bad year for the economy.

Now, I want you to note: I predicted 2011 would be a bad year anticipating that Obama wouldn’t cave in to Republicans on his tax hikes. And as a result of caving in to the superior Republican policies, things have continued to go well for us thus far.

But I also want you to note that even BEFORE I wrote the article you are now trying to ridicule, I PREDICTED THE STOCK MARKET WOULD COME BACK UP. Just as it came up after Black Friday in 1929. So how does this article make me comparable to your box of rocks in light of that???

Perhaps, given that you don’t seem to think YOU’RE as dumb as a box of rocks, you could explain these facts, and that things are pretty damn terrible and a collapse isn’t all that unlikely after all.

Obama has done NOTHING about the lion’s share of what caused our economy to implode, i.e. the housing/mortgage industries. Right now, it is worse that it was in the depths of the 2008 collapse. A THIRD of homes that are sold today are foreclosures. Meanwhile, the only thing propping us up is what everyone acknowledging is unsustainable is trilions and trillions in spending borrowed money.
Will Says:
November 8, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Since Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, the Dow is up about 48%, the S&P 500 is up 60% and the Nasdaq is up 90%. You might want to get your facts straight.
Michael Eden Says:
November 9, 2012 at 9:40 am
Will,

Hey, abject dumbass,

You might want to check and see when I WROTE this article and see whose facts were straight in March of 2009 when I was describing the universe.

But here’s another funny thing, Mr. Dumbass. Bush had the DOW over 14,000. It has in fact NEVER returned to the level that Bush took the market to. It’s like Democrats screeching that Obama has had over thirty months of consecutive job growth; that might be impressive IF YOU SAME COCKROACHES HADN’T DEMONIZED BUSH FOR OVER FIFTY MONTHS OF CONSECUTIVE JOB GROWTH. So when the DOW was over 14,000 you demonized Bush; but now messiah is worthy of the worship of all mankind because under Obama it’s over 13,000 (at least when the market isn’t panicking the day after Obama is reelected because everyone who actually touches money knows Obama will be godawful for the economy). You people are just remarkable; you live in a world of lies where you can demonize Bush and it doesn’t matter if he produced better results than your messiah ever has or ever will produce.

Now get lost.

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