9.1.06

Monday, Monday

Maybe no one in the States noticed, but over in the UK the Liberal Democrats gave the boot to their leader, Charles Kennedy. So for the second time in as many months, there will be a new leader to a minority party in British politics. Seems as if Sir Menzies Campbell is the favorite to replace Kennedy and it looks like a decision should be made shortly.

What this all means? Well frankly, probably not much. The LibDems are on the outside looking in, ho hum… read the article.

The Dow hit 11,000 but who cares? Is anyone making money off of this besides the already millionaires? How does this help you?

What else… bland Monday, actually it’s a warm and peaceful Monday. Expect things to get really ugly in DC over the next month with the Alito hearings and now this Abramoff stuff. Alito might get ugly, but these guys on the Hill have to be scared shitless about Abramoff and what he’s going to bring. This could actually get bloody… it could be like Hollywood comes to real life!

Anyway, needless to say VFLOAB is gonna be following this and maybe something interesting will actually happen. Maybe we’ll finally change some laws and crack down on corruption in this town and nation. Maybe.

But one thing is for sure, Bush and Chaney have to be happy about the Abramoff stuff. Not only does it deflect attention from Iraq and Katrina and every other thing they’ve managed to completely mess up, but more importantly, it’s going to limit the power of Congress. That’s right, The White House could come out of this with even more power.

God Save Us… God Save the Queen.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

From Business Week - I don't think 56.9 million households are all millionaires

November 14, 2005
Stock ownership is up
Amey Stone
Given the general dissatisfaction of the investing public, you'd think that stock ownership would have fallen markedly in the U.S. since the tech bubble burst in 2001 and was followed by waves of corporate scandal.

Not so, according to two finance industry trade groups, the Securities Industry Association and the Investment Company Institute. According to their joint survey, "Equity Ownership in America, 2005," half of all U.S. households own stocks, either directly or in a mutual fund or retirement plan.

According to the release:

“Despite experiencing a market contraction that was one of the worst bear markets since the Great Depression, the number of individuals in the U.S. owning equities is up 5.2 percent since 2002, and up 14.4 percent since 1999," says Frank Fernandez, Senior Vice President of the Securities Industry Association.

That's 56.9 million households, up from 54.1 million in 2002 and 40 million in 1995.

The growth isn't happening because we're turning into a nation of stock jockeys, however. Study authors conclude that the increase in equity-owning households is due mainly to the spread of 401(k) plans.

Otter said...

And how many of those households actually affect the market? On their own… none. As a group of millions, sure, but they don’t act together.

Plus the market today is much different than the market of 2000. It’s a market that doesn’t necessarily reflect the actual worker economy. Basically it’s a market of companies sitting on billions of dollars and having no clue what to do with their money so dividends are popular. Does the average household actually get much of that cut?

And anyway, what else are those households going to put their money into? There’s an investment commercial every other minute on TV. People are probably priced out of the real estate market. Commodities? Is anyone that excited about the bond market?

Anonymous said...

What is "the actual worker economy?" What does that even mean? How can it be reflected? I think this was the most incomprehensible post and response in the history of mankind.

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