The DOW is at just over 11,000 today, having rebounded almost 200 points in a day to get there. Believe this:
This was an incomplete correction. There's another 400 to 500 points to come off the DOW before it actually reflects the value of it's constituent corporations in THIS economy. It WILL lose those 400 to 500 points, at least, before the November elections. The DOW was at 10,578 the day George W. Bush took office in 2001.
Let's flip...
I'm actually glad we didn't find a bottom below that this early because,
1. I'm losing my ass just like the investor class.
2. I want these people to be held to account. Better we see that bottom closer to the election. BEFORE the election... but later than now.
Then, Republicans will have to answer to those of us who expected some gain in our 401Ks AFTER NEARLY 6 FUCKING YEARS beyond what we and our employers contributed!
What will take the DOW back to the 10,500s? Bad news. ANY bad news. And there will be bad news because shit happens. It won't even have to be any really bad shit. Just some shit. This is a bear market now. Bad news is pondered and worried over. Good news is discounted. How do I know this is now a bear market?
Look at THIS GRAPHIC. What is says is that we're in a bear market and it's going to take a while to get out of it. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are already below what they were when Bush took office and there's VERY little chance they'll go beyond those markers before November.
Americans are a selfish, greedy people. We are. Most Americans have not lost loved ones in Iraq. Most Americans didn't live in New Orleans. BUT... most Americans WILL take note of their own finances, if reminded what the DOW was at the day Bush took office on January 22nd, 2001.
10,578
We should imprint that number firmly into our memory. It will come in handy. Guaranteed.
Most Americans will also take note that the US Government no longer actively markets US Savings Bonds to US Citizens and that the rates on those bonds have been kept so low they would be difficult to market anyway. When was the last time you saw a TV commercial for US Savings Bonds? During the Clinton administration, right? The current administration borrows it's money from overseas... Asian banks. That money leaves our economy. Kiss it goodbye.
It's still the economy. Just like with George H. W. Bush, Stupid.