PREZ WILL TRY TO RALLY INVESTORS

New York Post ^ | Saturday, July 13, 2002 | By BRIAN BLOMQUIST

[JohnHuang2]

July 13, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - President Bush is planning a major economic speech on Monday to restore investor confidence, while his chief corporate crime fighter vowed yesterday to be aggressive in going after crooked execs.

At the White House, Bush met with his new corporate fraud task force - in a gathering that was hastily scheduled just yesterday morning - followed by an announcement that the president will lay out measures to shore up the economy on Monday in Alabama.

[JohnHuang2]

Saturday, July 13, 2002

Quote of the Day posted by Dead Corpse

[mewzilla]

Use the speech to announce some indictments. That'll help.

[Huck]

I am no expert; Hell, all I know is what I read in the funny papers, but it seems to me the President's going to need a P/E Ratio Task Force to get things cranking again.

[undergroundwarrior]

Eliminate The Capital Gains Tax.

[Huck]

Use the speech to announce some indictments. That'll help.

It'll help politically, but will it do anything for the market? The financial risk comes from not knowing who ELSE is out there, not from wondering what will happen to the ones we already know about(where the hell is Gary Winnick anyway?) Announcing some indictments will help with the President's political risk, and I hope he does it, but I don't see how anything but time or--perish the notion-- maybe a good month or two without a new business scandal is going to eliminate the negativity in the markets.

[Huck]

Eliminate The Capital Gains Tax.

Might as well, since everyone is reporting losses this year anyway. What difference does it make? I'll tell you, it was pretty sad seeing Mitch Daniels out there trying to explain how "no one saw any of this coming." The Dems have a real issue with the budget now, and the President has only himself to blame. Is he going to argue that the Farm Bill was part of the war on terror?

[AAABEST]

Is he going to argue that the Farm Bill was part of the war on terror?

This is one of the things Bush has done that I just can't get past (there are a few others). I wonder how many people realize that this horrid piece of trash will cost each taxpayer roughly $2,000. I'm not lying, do the math.

[steve50]

If he doesn't get some charges filed on these guys we can kiss the house and senate goodbye. I think many Americans are getting tired of speeches, they want action

[flamefront]

Action is evident:

White House Says It Expects Deficit to Hit $165 Billion.

And consider the Senate has a cure for corporate malfeasance worse than the disease:

Congress this week is discussing and looking to pass S.2673 which transfers the oversight for corporate accounting to an international foundation that is developing international accounting rules. Its chairman of the Board of Trustees is former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Trustees include BIS Managing Director Andrew Crockett, the next governor of the Bank of England. In short, the wolves (international bankers) are now chasing the foxes (all those who already have access) to the chicken coop which is the investments and savings of you and me.

Sometimes I wish less action from govt.

Beware.

[Huck]

I wonder how many people realize that this horrid piece of trash will cost each taxpayer roughly $2,000. I'm not lying, do the math.

It'll cost more than that, because it makes it IMPOSSIBLE for him to argue convincingly against ANY spending on principle. Impossible. There he was, leaning on the podium, talking about the "trifecta". Aw shucks. Never mind the budget. So you have the Dems attacking him on the budget. Then you might say, well how can they attack the President on the budget and then demand RX for seniors? Because the President hasn't got a leg to stand on in the budget debate.

[Huck]

If he doesn't get some charges filed on these guys we can kiss the house and senate goodbye. I think many Americans are getting tired of speeches, they want action

I think you are exactly right. Where the hell is our war on terror? The President came out and gave some great speeches, then we went and bombed the hell out of Afghanistan and defeated the Taliban, even though as far as I know they weren't responsible for the attacks. Osama and his boys get away and we have our leaders virtually promising us another attack worse than 9-11.

OK. Americans have learned to stomach that. But now here comes the President with another "tough" speech, and meanwhile Tyco boy is out yachting, where's Ken Lay? Where's Gary Winnick? They testify before Congress. Then what? It looks like this guy Pitt is set up to be the next Taliban. He didn't actually commit the crimes, but we have to bomb someone. Or maybe I am dead wrong. These are just the perceptions of a typical dumb American.

[Uncle Bill]

"As the Heritage Foundation has discovered, this farm bill will cost the average American taxpaying family $4,300 in higher taxes."

"The largest 10 percent of the farms get 75 percent of the subsidies"

"The Bush administration, House and Senate conferees have agreed on a nearly 80% increase ($83 billion) in farm subsidies"

AND THESE ARE REPUBLICANS - "Despite the fact that the Republicans control the White House, the House of Representatives, and 30 governorships, the nation is now in the midst of the biggest government spending spree since LBJ. Incredibly, the domestic social welfare budget has expanded more in just two years ($96 billion) under George W. Bush than in Bill Clinton's first six years in office ($51 billion)."

[TLBSHOW]

7/13/02
Finding logic in the arguments of a Democrat are about as surprising as finding a solid gold ingot in a mountain of horse manure. by Dead Corpse


That was good

What he should do is call for agressive tax beaks and Tax roll backs for everyone.

[AAABEST]

These are just the perceptions of a typical dumb American.

You sure ain't dumb Huck. You're a normally mild mannered, easy going type who's finding his "pissed" gene. Stay that way and get out there piss off everyone you meet.

[steve50]

Without spending cuts tax breaks are like living off your credit card, you get along fine for awhile but it's nasty in the end. Don't saddle my son with any more debt, I'd like him to have a life.

[TomGuy]

These business scandals and the resulting loses of billions in people's retirement accounts are serious for sure. Younger workers have time to wait it out.

Many of those in their 50's and older are/were living on those retirement accounts. When they see their "financial security" lose upwards of 80% of its value in the last year, they are very concerned.

It is passed time for blaming the previous administration. This is George W. Bush's watch. He has been in office nearly 1.5 years. He needs to restore confidence in investors and also restore a lot of those retirement funds that were stolen by corporate executives. He needs to show rapid, strong action against the frauds, or the next Presidential election will see a new Chief Executive. Pocketbooks are being affected, and people vote based on their pocketbooks. Time to let things sort themselves out is no longer a luxury for GWB because any rebound will take months, probably even a couple of years. He doesn't have much time to get the economic train back on track and get it moving with enough momentum to carry him through the 2004 election.

[steve50]

Handing authority over to the NWO. We should have paid more attention when his father first mouthed that treasonous little phrase.

[shrinkermd]

The problem with the stock market is not corporate fraud. Almost all the "frauds" happened when a failed business plan was kited to make it look better. Most of the "frauds" stocks were dropping like rocks months to years before the "fraud." Some of the "frauds" are not frauds. Just look at Merck. They sold their pills in drugs stores. They took the revenues as revenues and expensed the co-pays which the druggist kept. Now they are charged with falsely claiming more revenues than they had because the druggists kept the co-pays. Actually, a financial statement such as this is a judgement call and, in any case, the income statements in both instances are the same.

The problem with the stock market is valuations. In 1996 Alan Greenspan said the market suffered from "irrational exuberance." At the time the DJI was about 6-7000. Instead of cutting back on the money supply he boosted it because of a series of international problems. By 1999 the money created was "inflating" the stock market by increasing the valuations such that the S&P 500 P/E was over 40. Then good old Alan suddenly increased short-term rates to 6.5% to "fight inflation." Of course there was no inflation. In spite of reducing short term interest rates faster and farther than at any time in history, Alan has kept increasing M3 and, if he ever ceases, expect another major down draft in the market.

In short order, the market tanked and investors (to date) have lost 7-8 trillion dollars; however, the S&P 500 P/E at the end of June 2002 was still 26. The average P/E for the S&P 500 has been 13.5 over the years and 7 at the end of a bear market.

Teddy Roosevelt once said whenever the common man loses his money he becomes like a snake and strikes out whoever is at hand. Remember, Herbert Hoover was elected in 1928 and took office in March 1929 and the market did not crash till the Fall of that year. No one blames Cal Coolidge (his predecessor).

I believe President Bush is going to be blamed. If he wanted to do something he could urge Congress to kill the one million dollar tax deductible limit on executive pay which was passed by the Congress in 1993. This was would be far preferable to the "McCainiacs" proposal to expense stock options. Expensing stock options will result in lower earnings and valuation of the stock market; hence, another reason to tank further. Stock options became a problem when corporations switched these when they could not adequately expense their salaries for IRS purposes. Also, the President could mention that the politics of envy are not only destructive to society and capitalism, but they are prohibited in the 10 Commandments. These two little efforts would actually help the market. Bashing CEO's is just another mistaken deflection of blame and reason.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Uncle Bill, there you go trying to confuse us with facts again. I look at the farm bill as a big payoff to Archer Daniels Midland. Keeps them quiet about ethanol.

I'm having a real problem seeing much difference between the Demorats and Repubbies when it comes to doemstic issues. Both believe that the Central Government can take care of every bump in the road.

[Uncle Bill]

Yes, there are many evils in the details. Here's another one.