Monday, March 09, 2009

Obama's Recession? Part 34,589

Shoebox finds some good research to support the contention that it is now "Obama's Recession."

The assessment of current economic conditions fell 28 points between the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the inauguration (from 89.6 to 61.7). It has fallen another nine points since then to 52.3.

Seventy-five percent (75%) of investors now say the economy is getting worse. That’s an increase from 58% since Lehman Brothers collapsed last September to begin the financial industry meltdown. On the day that President Obama was inaugurated, 63% of investors thought the economy was getting worse. --Rasmussen

Although I specifically accepted Denninger's terms (indictment and prison for the fraudsters) in positing a March 1 or June 30 'handoff-of-responsibility' date, that particular aspect is only a minor part of the psychology. It would be a significant marker that Someone Means Business, and a part of a thorough "recovery plan."

But investors' opinion is what drives Dow (and S&P, and NASDAQ), and it appears that Obama's boyzzzz have made matters worse in that department.

He added 12 points (63 to 75) in negatives--damn near 20%--in only 60 days or so.

Looks more and more like it IS "Obama's Recession." We could still argue that he took the mantle on February 1st--or perhaps March 1st.

But his badmouthing (which only stopped a week ago) and his massive spending/regulatory/powergrab proposals are having their effect.

2 comments:

Shoebox said...

If you haven't seen Buffett's CNBC interview do so. Time and again he said that the President, not Treasury or Fed or anyone else, needed to be optimistic and provide clarity to the situation. he also said that all other issues i.e. cap/trade, taxes etc should be off the table until we have resolved the economy

Dad29 said...

Yah--I read the recaps.

But if you really think Obama cares about Buffet now, you're smoking something illegal.

Buffett was handy during the campaign...