(cross-posted from People before Politics)
It’s hard to say what is going to happen tomorrow. The stock market is extremely volatile, and we don’t know what’s coming next.
And it’s just about as unnerving to look back as it is to look ahead. Because one year ago last Thursday, the Dow Jones hit an all-time high; since that point, the Dow has dropped over 40%. Job losses nationwide are staggering – over 750,000 jobs have been cut in 2008 – and unemployment levels are rising nationwide.
But just as our opponent declared that Oklahoma was in good shape during this economic crisis, reality hit us in the face.
(More below the fold)
From NewsOK.com:
Aubrey McClendon, chairman of Chesapeake Energy Corp., was forced to sell "substantially all" of the more than 33 million shares of his company’s stock to meet margin calls.
"These involuntary and unexpected sales were precipitated by the extraordinary circumstances of the worldwide financial crisis," McClendon said in a statement issued after markets closed today. [...]
Chesapeake shares peaked at $74 on July 2. The stock hit a 52-week low today of $11.99 before closing at $16.52.
If you’ve been in Oklahoma City lately, you’d see that new construction, new jobs, and new energy surrounding the growth in demand of natural gas have made Chesapeake a local economic lynchpin.
On Tuesday, Jim Inhofe made a case in his debate against Andrew Rice that Oklahoma was doing pretty well – that the economic crisis wasn’t hitting us. While we may be in better shape than other states, covering your eyes and plugging your ears to a problem doesn’t mean it won’t affect you. Jim Inhofe, quite simply, has sat out our economic crisis.
I can’t put it any better than Andrew Rice did on Tuesday night:
I have not seen the leadership that we need from our U.S. Senator, being at the table, not standing on the sidelines and waiting ‘til the vote’s about to happen and seeing what’s the politically safe thing to do, but at the table with the leadership, with Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid and the other leaders and working together to try to make sure that our concerns about accountability here in Oklahoma are in that bill.
Chesapeake’s stock tumble is a difficult reminder that the economic crisis is hitting – or about to hit – all of us. Denying a problem is not leadership, but Jim Inhofe has confused denial with independence for far too many years. Twenty-two years in Washington, and 40 years in politics, is enough Inhofe. Oklahomans need a change.
- Karina Henderson, Rice for US Senate
