by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
I saw a headline yesterday which declared that after an amazing eleven-year run, the bull market that had driven the nation's economy for so long had finally come to an end. We are now, the article stated, firmly in a bear market. America's once bullish stock market was crawling off into hibernation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just one of the economic indicators that economists like to follow and quote. The viability of stocks are also gauged through daily averages of the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 - as well as through other tallies maintained by various investment houses. But when people talk stock numbers in general, they often refer to the Dow.
The Dow Jones closed at 19,827 on January 20, 2017, the day Donald Trump assumed office. It had come tantalizingly close to 20,000 during the closing days of the Obama administration - and indeed had been climbing throughout almost the entirety of the Obama years, but at the last minute it failed to cross the 20,000 mark. Shortly after Trump came into office the Dow did cross 20,000, and Trump nearly broke both arms patting himself on the back for being such a great economic leader.
I assumed the market would suffer a major downturn after the inexperienced, bumbling, and basically dishonest Trump came into office - but I was wrong. I failed to factor in the dishonesty and greed of America's business leaders who saw an opportunity to make some quick profits off of an economy that was being guided by Trump and his gang of opportunistic greed heads. The market kept going up.
But all of that ended last month as fears of the Coronavirus began spreading in international business circles and suddenly US businesses found themselves reacting to world events over which they had absolutely no control. Add to that the sudden reality that Trump and his administration literally did not have a response to the situation - nor did they seem to have any clue as to what they should be doing.
The world was going to hell in a hand basket - and the world knew it!
On February 12, 2020, one month ago today, the Dow reached its high-water mark of 29,556 - just short of 30,000 - and then it began to tumble. Yesterday's close was 23,550, or 6,001 points short of the high just one month prior. A decline of 6,000 points in a one-month span! That bear is definitely headed into the hills and looking for a cave in which to sleep it off.
As I sit at the keyboard this morning, the Dow is down to 21,858 - or nearly 1,700 points since yesterday's close.
Trump went on television last night to try and show that he has some understanding and control over the Coronavirus situation. He announced some travel restrictions from countries in the European Union, long a Trump target of vitriol and abuse, and suggested that government loans might be available to help small businesses get through the crisis. But this is the same leader who a mere two weeks ago was calling the situation a "hoax" that would soon disappear.
Coronavirus isn't disappearing - and the stock market continues to slide. At this rate all of the stock market gains of the Trump administration will be gone within a few days and the numbers will be below those achieved during the Obama years
It's your stock market now, Trump, and your economy. Maybe if you had used the past three years learning how to govern and actually manage the economy, we wouldn't be in this mess. But you chose instead to spend three years playing golf and ignoring the world around you - and now you own this mess - the spreading virus, the disappearing health care coverage, the infrastructure that never got fixed, the heightened levels of racism and hatred, and the collapsing economy.
It's all on you, Bubba. It's all on you!
Citizen Journalist
I saw a headline yesterday which declared that after an amazing eleven-year run, the bull market that had driven the nation's economy for so long had finally come to an end. We are now, the article stated, firmly in a bear market. America's once bullish stock market was crawling off into hibernation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just one of the economic indicators that economists like to follow and quote. The viability of stocks are also gauged through daily averages of the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 - as well as through other tallies maintained by various investment houses. But when people talk stock numbers in general, they often refer to the Dow.
The Dow Jones closed at 19,827 on January 20, 2017, the day Donald Trump assumed office. It had come tantalizingly close to 20,000 during the closing days of the Obama administration - and indeed had been climbing throughout almost the entirety of the Obama years, but at the last minute it failed to cross the 20,000 mark. Shortly after Trump came into office the Dow did cross 20,000, and Trump nearly broke both arms patting himself on the back for being such a great economic leader.
I assumed the market would suffer a major downturn after the inexperienced, bumbling, and basically dishonest Trump came into office - but I was wrong. I failed to factor in the dishonesty and greed of America's business leaders who saw an opportunity to make some quick profits off of an economy that was being guided by Trump and his gang of opportunistic greed heads. The market kept going up.
But all of that ended last month as fears of the Coronavirus began spreading in international business circles and suddenly US businesses found themselves reacting to world events over which they had absolutely no control. Add to that the sudden reality that Trump and his administration literally did not have a response to the situation - nor did they seem to have any clue as to what they should be doing.
The world was going to hell in a hand basket - and the world knew it!
On February 12, 2020, one month ago today, the Dow reached its high-water mark of 29,556 - just short of 30,000 - and then it began to tumble. Yesterday's close was 23,550, or 6,001 points short of the high just one month prior. A decline of 6,000 points in a one-month span! That bear is definitely headed into the hills and looking for a cave in which to sleep it off.
As I sit at the keyboard this morning, the Dow is down to 21,858 - or nearly 1,700 points since yesterday's close.
Trump went on television last night to try and show that he has some understanding and control over the Coronavirus situation. He announced some travel restrictions from countries in the European Union, long a Trump target of vitriol and abuse, and suggested that government loans might be available to help small businesses get through the crisis. But this is the same leader who a mere two weeks ago was calling the situation a "hoax" that would soon disappear.
Coronavirus isn't disappearing - and the stock market continues to slide. At this rate all of the stock market gains of the Trump administration will be gone within a few days and the numbers will be below those achieved during the Obama years
It's your stock market now, Trump, and your economy. Maybe if you had used the past three years learning how to govern and actually manage the economy, we wouldn't be in this mess. But you chose instead to spend three years playing golf and ignoring the world around you - and now you own this mess - the spreading virus, the disappearing health care coverage, the infrastructure that never got fixed, the heightened levels of racism and hatred, and the collapsing economy.
It's all on you, Bubba. It's all on you!
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