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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2009-02-23

For Those Keeping Score 

On February 9th, some 5 hours before President Obama gave his prime time press conference to push the "Stimulus Plan," the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the days' trading at 8270.

On February 10th, some 7 hours after Treasury Secretary Geithner outlined his plan for guiding the Obama Administration's recovery efforts, the Dow Jones closed at 7888.

On February 13th, after the House of Representatives had passed the Stimulus and the Senate was deliberating what was to end being a foregone conclusion, the Dow closed at 7850.

On February 17th, by 2 p.m. (roughly the time the President signed the Stimulus Bill into Law) the Dow had fallen to 7587.

On February 18th, by mid-afternoon and after the President had outlined his plan to ease the housing crisis, the Dow was at 7518.

And today, after the President tells the meeting of the Governors that he plans to slash the federal budget deficit in half by 2013, the Dow Jones closes down at 7105, its lowest level since 1997.

So in the two weeks since the President made his case to the American people for his Stimulus Plan, the markets have responded by dropping just over 14% of their value. At this rate, the best thing the President can do tomorrow night in front of Congress is keep it short. Hand them a copy of the Times or the Post, and say "Here's the state of the Union.' Make no promises, tell no lies, hope the markets don't read into it an excuse to plunge below 7000.
Posted by: Michael / 2/23/2009 11:43:00 PM

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