Bear markets happen. Not only that, but PEs for the S&P500 were over 40 by the end of June. Historically (for 200 years), they have been at about 14. One could make an argument for slightly higher PEs in light of the fact that interest rates are at historic lows, so PEs could be somewhat higher... but not 40.
Down it will go. The Clinton Bubble is bursting. Nobody can stop it. Nobody should. The Nikkei is down 70% from it's bubble peak.
"Technicians" bid up this bubble hoping to sell out to some greater fool. They defined the peak - ignoring fundamentals and monitoring the madness of the crowd. Now the bottom will be defined by "fundamentals". Income. PE ratios of 14. Not 40.
The thing that kills me about all of this is CNN. Last night one of their news nitwits gleefully described the decline in the stockmarket as an expression of a lack of confidence in Bush. The media is trying to pin this on him. Sadly, people are stupid enough to believe it. He's as good as convicted. Better attack Saddam, quick!
Yup. It's time to "Wag the Bull." I thought it was evil when Clinton was doing it, but that was because he was just trying to divert attention from his love of oral sex in White House bathrooms. This time, the Rats, in collusion with the news media, are intentionally attempting to destroy the President for no other reason than that they hate Republicans. So I have no qualms at all about moving up the attack on Iraq to help the GOP in the November elections (assuming the plan hasn't always been to go in long before November anyway). Iraq is a threat to us, we're going to go in eventually anyway, so if merely shifting the date up is of domestic political benefit to us, then GREAT. If the Rats and the news media hadn't declared war on the president, we wouldn't need to be thinking about this. So the hell with it, let's play hardball.