Goldfish are said to have 3 second memories.
(Sweet Goldfish movie)
I very much doubt the media's is that long. Otherwise you would think we would stop using the Dow as an oppinion poll. THE DOW IS NOT AN OPINION POLL!
It's a magic 8 Ball.
You're better off choosing your lotto numbers by the index values than you are the outcomes of, or appetite for, complex financial policies.
Today is a case in point: (After the jump)
Washington Post, February 15, 2009: Disappointment Over Bailout Drives Losses
First Paragraph:
U.S. stocks fell last week after Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner failed to convince investors that his bank rescue will work.
Washington Post March 23, 2009: The obliquely named -- U.S. to Help Investors Buy Bank Assets
First Paragraph:
Financial markets roared ahead yesterday as investors reacted with near-euphoria to the Obama administration's new trillion-dollar plan to stabilize banks by relieving them of their troubled assets and risky loans.
Emphasis added
That the Dow is at best a pulse "Yep, there's still a Dow Jones Industrial Average...."
Hey Media, remember when you were constantly judging individual actions of the government in the middle of a crisis, while markets had some of the highest volatility ratings ever recorded?
I didn't think so... It has been more than 3 seconds after all.