And "Fed money-pump (regardless of the rationale behind it... sensible, whimsical, or otherwise) trumps EVERYTHING". Even if this notion sounds stupid, ridiculous, absurd to you... the fact remains... market players believe it.
Nothing will change until we get rid of the status quo. Vote Independent. Vote for Tancredo in Colorado. Do you really believe candidates backed by the Global Elite/NWO/Bilberberg Group are different from one another? Democrats give more crumbs to the poor and illegals to buy votes. Republicans give more tax breaks to their corporate buddies that contribute to their campaigns. QE2 is a given. They already telegraphed it numerous times. The economy isn't recovering. The Fed stated numerous times they would trash the $USD to stimulate exports. The Fed is the problem. Ron Paul and the like are the solution. Don't believe me. Look around. Do you see a recovery? Question Authority.
This is really reminiscent of 2007 when Gold and Silver, most commodities were going parabolic and whatever gains the mainstream indicies made took the front page and center stage. It's quite literally as if it never matters in what context these indicies rally, just so long as there is some ridiculous measurement to point to for optimism. Many people figured that the crash of 2008 would eradicate us of this mentality and/or at least enlighten enough people as to the trickery with which politicians will try and spin things positive with some thinly traded, easily goosed index to paint a pretty picture. If anything, the mass exodus out of stocks (i.e. 24 weeks of outflows, including ETF's) has made it that much easier to bid sit and goose a much thinner market. The irony is that outside of an ever shrinking segment of the population, most people stopped giving an enormous shit about where this stuff traded about a decade ago. We forget how many people were decimated in that first swoon back in 2000-02. This pretense that it still matters 10 years later while we get an unending series of QE's that just drive up the cost of living is clearly reflected in political polls.
That pretty much covers it. If you sampled enough of a cross-section of the population, you'd definitely have alot of conflicting answers about a recovery. I've also found that there are those optimists who don't answer that sort of question directly, but rather it's the sort of "I hope things recover" type of answer that they will give you. My bigger question is how many businesses that are tied into increased government spending are really the sole beneficiaries of this sort of policy. Is it the sort of thing where a company with a bunch of government contracts (whether it be a small time supplier to a large publicly traded company), and is the only thing that is sustaining their business. It's the sort of thing that nobody really digs into, but I'm very curious.
Exactly. Look at DC metro. No housing decline. Why? Because of the expanding Federal Government. Its like people suggest. Follow the money. Judge people by what they do not by what the say. Read The Creature from Jeykl Island. Listen to some of Alex Jones and Ron Paul. I do believe AJ's macro points are spot on but he comes off a bit to extreme at times.
Yes, I read The Creature a number of years ago..anybody who has read the book would have a greater understanding of the past 2-3 years anyway (actually it obviously goes back much further than that..but the whole PR aspect)...as Griffin constantly re-iterates, "the name of the game is bailout..." It's all about inflation greater than previous inflation until the system completely loses the ability to inflate greater than before.
Things change so fast, I hope the Chinese don't start to modernized their military too much in the next decade. It might make the US military(circa 1980's-present) look foolish in 2020.