If you didn't notice, the stock market was up -- way up -- following Kerry's victory in the debate last night. I was just perusing a Reuters article about it on Yahoo (
Stocks Rise; Nasdaq, S&P at 3-Month Highs) to see if any it made a connection between the two events, and sure enough it did.
The first presidential debate on Thursday night in Miami between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry also appeared to calm markets, said Johnson.
"Although the perception is clear that Kerry won the debate last night -- it's still the case that the financial markets collectively are betting Bush will win and preserve the 15 percent tax on capital gains and dividends," said Johnson.
Okay, what the FUCK? Where do they find these guys? Kerry takes a surprising, decisive victory in the first debate, and the markets see it as proof Bush will be re-elected?
No to mention, the markets couldn't POSSIBLY be up because investors are nervous about jobs and the national debt, and they think Kerry could help both, right?
The "Johnson" quoted is Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp. I looked him up on opensecrets.org. Nothing obviously wacky -- he gave $1000 each to Sen. Chalres Schumer (D-NY) and Rick Lazio (R) when he ran against Hilary Clinton. If he's given money to Bush, it's been in small emough amounts not to make the donor tracking list. So why the kneejerk pro-Bush spin?