[PEN-L:28055] RE: Re: market signal

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: RE: [PEN-L:28054] Re: market signal

Michael Perelman wrote:
> > The economy is getting healthier.  Bush gave a speech and
> > the market did
> > not decline as much.  Good times are certainly on the horizon.

Gene writes:
> Hoover gave that speech in 1932 and it wasn't as successful.  Anybody
> criticized Bush for plagarism yet?

Back when Hoover "gave that speech," it was economic orthodoxy, i.e., that business confidence drove the economy. (To his credit, Hoover also asked business not to cut wages more.) In fact, that orthodoxy was the essence of FDR's assertion that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." What's interesting is that that orthodoxy went away -- to be replaced by Keynesian economics -- and now has come back. What happened to the idea of progress in economic science.

BTW, it's not anything close to 1932 (yet).

>Bush, speaking with the slogan "Strengthening Our Economy" in the background, admonished, "America must get rid of the hangover we all have because of the economic binge we just went through," referring to the long period of inflated stock prices that sent Americans streaming into the market.<

he should know about hangovers, from personal experience. The binge we went through was pretty big, so it might take a visit to the Betty Ford clinic to speed up recovery.

>... The president said recent tax cuts should be made permanent, partly because they spur the growth of small businesses and create jobs.<

what do you teach a parrot to say to impersonate a Republican? "cut taxes, cut taxes"

>Bush emphasized the need for high-quality education that teaches children the basics so they can qualify for good jobs as adults. And he warned Congress to hold the line on spending so the budget can be balanced in 2005.<

high quality education, but not by spending money. Somehow that philosophy doesn't apply to the Pentagon.

JD