Dude, Where's My Depression? AP Pushes for Bailout Bill Despite Stock Surge

NewsBusters ^ | September 30, 2008 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

Remember all the doom and gloom warnings that if the $700 billion bailout bill did not pass yesterday that we would be facing an immediate financial collapse? Well, the bailout bill didn't pass yesterday thanks in large part to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan rantings in that chamber. So today comes and instead of financial collapse and panic, the stocks surge as you can see in this Associated Press story. However, the fact that the economic sky did not fall hasn't kept the AP Chicken Littles from continuing to plug for that bailout bill (emphasis mine):

NEW YORK (Sept. 30) - Wall Street snapped back Tuesday after its biggest sell-off in years amid growing expectations that lawmakers will salvage a $700 billion rescue plan for the financial sector. But the seized-up credit markets where businesses turn to raise money showed no sign of relief. One day after the biggest point drop in its history, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 485 points, or more than 4.5 percent - the latest in a string of extraordinarily volatile days in the stock market. It was third-biggest point gain in the Dow's history and the biggest percentage climb in the Dow in six years.

Or maybe the stock market surged because the highly unpopular bailout bill failed to pass. That is an interpretation that AP doesn't seem to even consider.

[PJ-Comix]

Was this "financial crises" the Democrat October Surprise that happened in September? If so, they might have sprung it a bit too early.

[PJ-Comix]

PING!

[pissant]

and it hasn’t stopped the McCain/Obama/Pelosi/Bush/Paulson chicken littles either.

[Harry Wurzbach]

ROFL.

And to think that thing could’ve passed.

*shudder*

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

Bush just wants things to be OK until he leaves office.

His parting shot depends on who wins the election.

[JasonC]

The recovery is entirely due to the knowledge that a bill will pass, that they simply won't take no for an answer and will try again by the end of the week.

But don't try telling ideologues anything about reality...

[JasonC]

It will pass. Watch and learn, grasshopper.

[curiosity]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news (I oppose a bailout, too), the main reason for the market's rebound today is the renewed hope in the markets that some bailout will pass in the near future, as evidenced by bailout futures trading over 80.

[TheWasteLand]

Reality vs. The Narrative. My money’s on reality.

[frposty]

I’m hoping for a series of incremental bills requiring debate and congressional passage of each. Ross Perot once said that he gave out money at EDS like he’d give out water in the desert.

[Mogollon]

If the SEC suspension of mark to market accounting rules caused the markets to surge up and it stays up, Obambi and his democRATS are in a heap of trouble.

[cripplecreek]

the main reason for the market's rebound today is the renewed hope in the markets that some bailout will pass in the near future, as evidenced by bailout futures trading over 80.

Exactly how are we arriving at that conclusion?

[synchron]

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news (I oppose a bailout, too), the main reason for the market’s rebound today is the renewed hope in the markets that some bailout will pass in the near future, as evidenced by bailout futures trading over 80.”

Why then did the market start dropping long before the bill was defeated, when everyone was assured it was going to pass?

[Paul Heinzman]

PJ, if you keep this up, you may well become the H. L. Menken of our times.

You are doing amazing work here.

[curiosity]

Bailout futures are trading at more than 80.

[curiosity]

The recovery is entirely due to the knowledge that a bill will pass, that they simply won't take no for an answer and will try again by the end of the week.

You are correct, sadly.

[GregoryFul]

Gee, what an opportunity to make a wad of money - scare people into giving up their investments for 30% less by not passing the much anticipated “bailout”, and the grabbing the upswing by then passing it a few days later. Holy cow! Money from nothing!

[PJ-Comix]

PJ, if you keep this up, you may well become the H. L. Menken of our times.

Ironically, I was born just a few miles from where Mencken lived.

[GregoryFul]

Don’t be so sure. The way to make lots of money is to swing the market up and down, and know when the swings are about to happen. If you and your cohorts are in control of the rope, you have the power to make a vast fortune in short order. I’m sure our congressmen are “discussing the historic opportunity.”

[curiosity]

Why then did the market start dropping long before the bill was defeated, when everyone was assured it was going to pass?

It dropped a bit in the morning on news the vote would be closer than previously expected. Then it stayed basically flat until the roll-call vote started. During the vote it started going down, around 1:40-1:45 when it looked likely to fail.

From Yahoo Finance (looking at the S&P500):

9:30: opened at 1209 (down from 1225 close the previous day).

10:00: drops to 1779.

Roughly flat from 10-1:20. Still at 1669 at 1:20.

Bailout rollcall vote starts around 1:20 (source: Michelle Malkin's live blog). While the role-call is going, market starts to go down as the nays start stacking up. By 1:45, according to MM, it looks pretty likely it's going to fail. By 1:50, it's official.

Not coincidentally, by 1:45 market drops to 1146, and keeps going down.

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/29/kill-the-bailout-the-house-floor-debate-is-on/

[hinckley buzzard]

I’m hoping for a series of incremental bills requiring debate and congressional passage of each

I wouldn't hold my breath. If they are going to centralize all this debt they will have to do it in one big swoop. Otherwise the whole deal will fall apart. Think the libs favorite buzzword: "Comprehensive".

[Prophet in the wilderness]

" If the SEC suspension of mark to market accounting rules caused the markets to surge up and it stays up, Obambi and his democRATS are in a heap of trouble. "

Can you elaborate more on that please.

[Paul Heinzman]

PJ, WRITE YOUR MEMOIRS! Ralph Waldo Emerson predicted the day would come when literature would give way to diaries. Henry Miller proved that that type of writing could sell.

Don't write for a publisher. Write for yourself. That stupid "if you build it, they will come" movie managed to queer up baseball, but if you write your memoirs, people will read.

Every story you tell is amazing. Don't worry about those guys from Jersey that sold you that suit. They've been taken care of. ;-)

[PJ-Comix]

Don't write for a publisher. Write for yourself. That stupid "if you build it, they will come" movie managed to queer up baseball, but if you write your memoirs, people will read.

I sort of need an incentive...like a book deal from Mary Matalin (with CD-ROM insert).

[PJ-Comix]

Any anecdotes I have pales compared to that of my father. He has done stuff that would amaze you. For example he speaks at least 6 languages fluently. In fact, he speaks Spanish with a Castilian accent which so fascinated the governor of Puerto Rico that he invited my father (I tagged along sometimes) to private parties at La Forteleza Castle and at his country home. However, one story my father used to tell I didn't quite buy. About how he got an entire army to surrender to him while impersonating a general while wearing a dirty pair of short pants. That story was so wild that I just couldn't believe it...until I was surfing around on the web and found this VIDEO. It was an interview with someone who knew my father way back and told the story about the time he got the general to surrender his army to him while he was impersonating a general while wearing dirty shorts. So the most unbelievable story was true.

[JasonC]

Hope whatever you like, it has nothing to do with reality.

[JasonC]

Um, nobody needs the market to move a lot to mint money if they know anything about the direction. You can have a move of 2% in 15 days, and if you can call that direction you can double your money every time you do it. They aren't. In fact, there isn't even a single hedge fund strategy with positive returns this year. Conspiracy theory nonsense is just that, the reality is much simpler. A billion doesn't change hands without lawyers, and a trillion doesn't change hands without entire political parties.

[Paul Heinzman]

Your father sounds like one helluva guy. When the man being interviewed said “he was one funny guy” that didn’t surprise me at all. The greatest gifts our parents give us never come wrapped.