January 2, 2008

Market Down--Mark It Down

The stock market was down sharply today. The S&P 500 closed at 1447. When George W. Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 2001, the index stood at 1343--separated from today's close by 7 or 8%. Today's dollar-denominated close, not to put too fine a point on it...

Accordingly, even without a recession or other negative events, there's an appreciable chance that on Election Day and Inauguration Day the market will have meandered below where it stood when Bush took over eight years earlier. Surely electoral strategists are well aware of this possibility, but such a trifle may not merit the attention of George W. Bush, the Great Syncretist, Liberty's Apostle to Islam, and BIG Thinker.

The insider-trading indicator is strongly positive and I'm sticking with it. Uneasily.

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