bedsitter23 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bedsitter23) wrote2011-10-13 08:48 pm
bedsitter23) wrote2011-10-13 08:48 pm
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Caucus Update: "A Word About The 'Occupy Wall Street'ers"
I don't have a lot I feel I need to say about the Occupy Wall Streeters (and I probably couldn't say it as well as defFrog, anyway), but it's a thing, so I have to say something.
For starters, the Dow Jones is headed back up. There is one thing I have learned from the Stock Market in the last three years is that good news is good, and bad news is even better (if you're rich, anyway.)
Take a widely-held stock like Wal-Mart. It was about $55 for one share in May 2004, it dove to its lowest point of around $43/share when things went south late 2007, got up to $58 when the market recovered, headed back down around $48 again a couple of months ago when the market had its drastic fall, and is headed back up and is back up around $54 now.
For the average Joe with a few extra bucks to invest or all the people with 401ks, you're essentially back where you started. It's the millionaires (who don't have to worry about a rainy day fund or paying off their car or if they are going to have a job tomorrow) who loaded up and bought when the stock was at that those $43 and $48 marks.
So, while it sounds good that Bank of America is worth only a third of what it used to be, there are a lot of rich guys who are buying it now and are going to make a lot of cash off it when it doubles (and it will); and that's the stuff that seems legit (I won't even get into puts).
I do like Grass Roots populist campaigns, though they usually break my heart.
While I don't agree with the Tea Party, when it was in its infancy, I liked what it could stand for.
There was a lot there that could have been seized upon regardless of partisanship - term limits, balanced budgets, wasteful spending. I know plenty of liberals who could get on board with that. Instead, quickly, it became what we know now- a platform of ideas that takes queues from Glen Beck, Sarah Palin, Fox News, and Dick Armey- the very definition of 'politics as usual'.
Occupy Wall Street is in that genesis where it is a collection of interesting ideas and individuals, and will shortly be co-opted as talking points for the two parties.
Life is not one or the other- OWS can be a lot of things- mad at Obama for not doing enough, mad at the GOP for not partnering to create jobs, mad at Wall Street execs. There's plenty there that affects people of all political stripes.
Still, that won't last long.
I am on enough Lib group spam lists to know the Dems are trying to get money and votes out of this.
Fox News goes for the obvious play- OWS isn't mad at the GOP or the (mostly GOP) Wall St Execs. They're protesting Obama
Herman Cain (in his rising position) has made it clear the OWS crowd is his mortal enemy. It's your own fault if you're not rich, he says.
Yes, clearly, when you made your decision to become a teacher or fire fighter or soldier, it's yer own damn fault, you didn't become a pizza restaurant franchisee instead, and made some moolah instead.
There's only one thing more interesting than Cain's vitriol about OWS (and he does goes on and on about it), is that there's an actual GOP Presidential candidate who supports it (to the point, he actually was in the park).
Okay, okay, okay.
It's just Buddy Roemer, but hey at least it's sorta 'out of the box', and to be fair, he is the only running who has an MBA in Finance from Harvard.
For starters, the Dow Jones is headed back up. There is one thing I have learned from the Stock Market in the last three years is that good news is good, and bad news is even better (if you're rich, anyway.)
Take a widely-held stock like Wal-Mart. It was about $55 for one share in May 2004, it dove to its lowest point of around $43/share when things went south late 2007, got up to $58 when the market recovered, headed back down around $48 again a couple of months ago when the market had its drastic fall, and is headed back up and is back up around $54 now.
For the average Joe with a few extra bucks to invest or all the people with 401ks, you're essentially back where you started. It's the millionaires (who don't have to worry about a rainy day fund or paying off their car or if they are going to have a job tomorrow) who loaded up and bought when the stock was at that those $43 and $48 marks.
So, while it sounds good that Bank of America is worth only a third of what it used to be, there are a lot of rich guys who are buying it now and are going to make a lot of cash off it when it doubles (and it will); and that's the stuff that seems legit (I won't even get into puts).
I do like Grass Roots populist campaigns, though they usually break my heart.
While I don't agree with the Tea Party, when it was in its infancy, I liked what it could stand for.
There was a lot there that could have been seized upon regardless of partisanship - term limits, balanced budgets, wasteful spending. I know plenty of liberals who could get on board with that. Instead, quickly, it became what we know now- a platform of ideas that takes queues from Glen Beck, Sarah Palin, Fox News, and Dick Armey- the very definition of 'politics as usual'.
Occupy Wall Street is in that genesis where it is a collection of interesting ideas and individuals, and will shortly be co-opted as talking points for the two parties.
Life is not one or the other- OWS can be a lot of things- mad at Obama for not doing enough, mad at the GOP for not partnering to create jobs, mad at Wall Street execs. There's plenty there that affects people of all political stripes.
Still, that won't last long.
I am on enough Lib group spam lists to know the Dems are trying to get money and votes out of this.
Fox News goes for the obvious play- OWS isn't mad at the GOP or the (mostly GOP) Wall St Execs. They're protesting Obama
Herman Cain (in his rising position) has made it clear the OWS crowd is his mortal enemy. It's your own fault if you're not rich, he says.
Yes, clearly, when you made your decision to become a teacher or fire fighter or soldier, it's yer own damn fault, you didn't become a pizza restaurant franchisee instead, and made some moolah instead.
There's only one thing more interesting than Cain's vitriol about OWS (and he does goes on and on about it), is that there's an actual GOP Presidential candidate who supports it (to the point, he actually was in the park).
Okay, okay, okay.
It's just Buddy Roemer, but hey at least it's sorta 'out of the box', and to be fair, he is the only running who has an MBA in Finance from Harvard.