Yeah, I used that headline once before. But I’m making the point again.
This morning’s lead headline in The Wall Street Journal was tiresome:
Economic Outlook Darkens
Markets Stumble as Factories, Hiring Slow Down; Biggest Drop in Stocks in a Year
The drumbeat of bad news about the U.S. economy got louder on Wednesday, rattling financial markets and driving stocks to their biggest drop in a year.
The U.S. factory sector, which has been an engine of the recovery, notched its biggest one-month slowdown since 1984 as companies hit the brakes on hiring and production. Another report showed private-sector hiring dropped precipitously in May, prompting economists to ratchet down their expectations for the closely watched nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 279.65 points, or 2.2%, to 12290.14, its biggest point decline since June 4 of last year. Investors piled into the safety of Treasury bonds, sending yields on the 10-year note below 3% for the first time this year. Yields move in the opposite direction of price….
Sheesh. I’m not going to go on and on about my own unified field theory of the economy (after all, I couldn’t even get y’all to watch that hilarious Keynes and Hayek rap video), but in a nutshell it is this: All the bad economic indicators result, at some point down the line, from someone having a lousy attitude.
That applies whether you’re talking the stock market, or manufacturing figures, or retail sales, or jobs, what have you. We start tightening up, and things get as bad as we thought they were, or even worse.
So snap out of it, people! I’m a veteran of the front lines of this singularly monotonous war, and have no glory or medals to show for it. Just a lot of PTSD. Don’t need any more, thanks…
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I’m beginning to wonder if the press isn’t trying to extend the recession further…
Oil prices may be having more of an impact on the economy than most experts are saying. Seems like the correlation between an oil/gasoline spike and bad economic numbers is pretty strong.
The only thing we have to fe-yah is fe-yah itself, eh?
OK, the stock market went down 777 points, biggest one day decline in history, when the Republicans voted against Bush’s TARP in 2008. That scared them so badly, they re-voted and TARP passed.
Why is there not supposed to be any connection with what the stock market did Wednesday to the House vote NOT to increase the debt ceiling Tuesday? Just because the pundits and CNBC ignored it?
Don’t worry, martin–Jon Stewart will cover it!
That ain’t my fault, Warthen, I’ve done nothing but have good thoughts about this damn economy ever since 2008
Specifically in that the economy will rebound in time, It’s a mother, beautiful economy, and it’s gonna rebound. Ok?