Big Pile Of Lose

Worst Post-Debate analysis of the day has to hands down go to Jim Pethokoukis of U.S. News and World Report's Capital Commerce blog.

No. Really. You're kidding me. Barack Obama actually told that Joe the Plumber guy that he wants to "spread the wealth around." What, did Obama just get done reading the Wikipedia entry on Huey "Share the Wealth" Long or something? Was he somehow channeling that left-wing populist from the Depression? Talk about playing into the most extreme stereotype of your party, that it is infested with socialists.

A while back I chatted with a University of Chicago professor who was a frequent lunch companion of Obama's. This professor said that Obama was as close to a full-out Marxist as anyone who has ever run for president of the United States. Now, I tend to quickly dismiss that kind of talk as way over the top. My working assumption is that Obama is firmly within the mainstream of Democratic politics. But if he is as free with that sort of redistributive philosophy in private as he was on the campaign trail this week, I have no doubt that U of C professor really does figure him as a radical. And after last night's debate, a few more Americans might think that way, too. McCain's best line: "Now, of all times in America, we need to cut people's taxes. We need to encourage business, create jobs, not spread the wealth around."

And by the way, I just noticed that the IBD/TIPP poll, the most accurate in 2004, has McCain down by just 3 points. If the contest is perceived by the voters as a contest between a wealth redistributor and a wealth creator, then it could be a long night come Nov. 4. This is still a center-right country, gang. Note this Gallup poll from June:

When given a choice about how government should address the numerous economic difficulties facing today's consumer, Americans overwhelmingly—by 84% to 13%—prefer that the government focus on improving overall economic conditions and the jobs situation in the United States as opposed to taking steps to distribute wealth more evenly among Americans.

There you go.

Hey Jimbo, when you're not drinking the McKoolAid, come up and take a breath and ask yourself some honest questions:

1. Did Bush's eight years of tax cuts make the economy better, judging from where we are right now?
2. Do you think with our government committing "massive wealth distribution" from taxpayer to Fortune 500 companies to the tune of trillions, that we should get nothing in return?
3. Is ExxonMobil too strapped to afford a bit more taxation a bit less taxpayer subsidies when they are making billions in quarterly profits?
4. Do you think the American working voter really sees "spreading the wealth around" right now with huge bailouts to companies as a bad thing?
5. Do you honestly think Americans are really, really eager to embrace tax cuts for corporations right now after said bailout?
6. Do you think John McSame is actually going to win this election?
   

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're going to really, really hate the intrusive, shocking reality of the Obama administration. I suggest locking your doors before the Army Of Melanin-Intensive Neosocialists come a-callin'.

The center-right just got its ass kicked in the stock market. We're all leftists now, jagoff.

Still Locked Up

With a host of bad 3Q economic news slated for this month, escaping the immediate threat of the credit crisis has only given way to the longer-term threat of a 6-9 month recession or longer, and that caused yesterday's collapse. The Nikkei ended up giving back 11%, Euro stocks are down around 3%. LIBOR numbers are still depressingly high and that's continuing to cause damage. There appears to be a bargain hunting day ahead, but expected bad news from the manufacturing sector and labor market could put us back down another 300 points pretty quickly.

It's not looking good. The best the perma-bulls can come up with is another Fed rate cut and some truly moronic garbage about a "W-shaped rally" that will naturally solve America's problems by the end of the year.

Now that the US consumer has finally hit the wall, there’s growing speculation the Federal Reserve will push its interest rate pedal to the floor.

September’s 1.2 percent decline in retail sales and downward revisions in the two previous months virtually assure the first quarterly decline in consumer spending in 17 years. That's something economists have been worrying about for some time, when it appeared the government’s fiscal stimulus package was having a limited effect.

“I've said since the summer that a ‘dark period’ of economic data lie ahead,” Miller & Tabak’s chief bond market analyst Tony Crescenzi told clients in a note.

Crescenzi is among the many economy watchers who now expect the government’s GDP data to show the economy contracted in the third-quarter. Economists expect that contraction to continue through the fourth quarter and into the first quarter of next year, which also bodes poorly for holiday sales.

“Housing has to bottom first,” says economist David Jones of DMJ Advisors. “So the recession doesn't end until March 2009 at the earliest, maybe even June 2009 at the latest.”

Funny. I don't see the housing market hitting bottom until 2010 at least. That means we could be in for a multi-year recession or something worse if these money market numbers don't resolve themselves very shortly. They're still locked up tight.

What form will next week's "rescue package" take, I wonder?

StupidiNews!

• Hurricane Omar takes aim at the Virgin Islands.
• The McSame campaign equates Palin's association with the Alaska Independence Party with "smearing Obama's religion".
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has a major fundraising advantage over challenger Bruce Lunsford in Kentucky that could give him a solid win.
• What does the FCC plan to do with the soon to be empty analog TV spectrum?
• The Phillies advance to the World Series after knocking off the Dodgers 5-1.