Investors' losing streak continues

BBC News ^ | December 31, 2002 | BBC News

[MadIvan]

In my opinion 2003 will be a slightly better year than 2002. 2002 was bumping along the bottom - 2003 should be a year of cautious improvement.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[ex-snook]

I admire you for the economy posting, the subject that won't speak it's name here. No peace no prosperity. Ending the Israel/Palestine conflict should be job #1. It is the war domino. Upon it dependeth the whole maw and the profits.

[MadIvan]

Ending the Israel/Palestine conflict should be job #1.

Piffle. We've had good economic times even while that conflict has raged. The 1980's, for example. If the resolution you describe involves Israel shooting Arafat and Hamas, then I'm all for it out of general principles, not because it will bring prosperity.

What needs to occur is a seismic shift in investor psychology. My greatest hope is that President Bush will do something dramatic like eliminate the Income Tax and replace it with a National Sales Tax. The elimination of the IRS alone will make people love him forever.

Ivan

[Digger]

One factor which may lift stocks next year is the 2004 US Presidential election,

Usually this happens as the government pumps money into the market but we are addding at a 20% rate M-3 money now & it is only proping up a sinking ship. We must have our war in order to obtain cheap oil. W/o it a financial meltdown is assured. If it were otherwise (our safty) we would have the borders closed. And watch out for a terrorist act because the sheeple have caught on to the scam.

[Desdemona]

The elimination of the IRS alone will make people love him forever.

BUMPUS MAXIMUS

And while he's at it, repeal the Constitutional Amendment which allows it.

[MadIvan]

We must have our war in order to obtain cheap oil.

FYI, you're at Free Republic, not Democrat (hopefully 6 feet) Underground.

Ivan

[MadIvan]

And while he's at it, repeal the Constitutional Amendment which allows it.

I can imagine President Bush addressing the nation with a copy of the Income Tax code - all thousands of pages of it - and then saying, "I am going to do something which will bring substantial improvement to our economy, and eliminate a drain on our resources as an innovative people" - then casting the document into the rubbish bin.

I'd be tempted to soak it in lighter fluid and strike a match too, but that's just me.

Regards, Ivan

[Desdemona]

I'd be tempted to soak it in lighter fluid and strike a match too, but that's just me.

No, dear, it's not just you.

[MadIvan]

The government could also get substantial revenue from a film of the demolition of the IRS buildings across the country. Call it "The IRS' Greatest Hits".

Regards, Ivan

[sinkspur]

You and ole snookems are glass-half-empty people. Always predicting rain on the day of the picnic. Spying a pony and looking for the pile. Seeing a pretty girl standing next to her mother and turning away because, well, that's what she'll look like when she's old.

You guys must be riot to live with.

Not.

[Willie Green]

Ending the Israel/Palestine conflict should be job #1.

The nomadic tribes of the Middle East have been cutting each others' throats since the dawn of recorded history.
Don't be deluded into thinking that a feud that's existed for millenia is going to be magicly resolved in our lifetime. I'd much prefer to see a peaceful resolution to the conflict myself, but consider it more practical to remain neutral while providing humanitarian assistance to those innocent victims of stone-age barbarism.

Note: this does NOT preclude punitive action taken against those fanatics who direct their insanity against us. However, we should also be taking more deliberate steps to minimize our economic involvement and dependence on the region.

[Protagoras]

My greatest hope is that President Bush will do something dramatic like eliminate the Income Tax and replace it with a National Sales Tax.

Hate to dash your hopes. He would first have to be in favor of it and propose it.

[MurryMom]

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index of blue-chip US shares - which sets the tone for stock markets world wide - is on track to finish the year about 17% lower...

Last year at this time, Repukie economists taking their cue from little Dumbya were predicting 12,500 for the DJIA. Now, they blame Clinton and 9/11 for the Bush Recession and resulting fall of the DJIA.

With Dumbya in charge investment in cash at 1.25% has been a successful strategy. Pity the value of your portfolio if your wishes are granted and your MIA war hero and his Repukie syncophants continue their failed borrow-and-spend policies in 2003.

Happy New Year, Ivan!

[Mo1]

Do these guys know anything else to say besides doom and gloom .. the markets have seen much worse and survived and they will survive again

[Mo1]

BTW ....

[ex-snook]

"You and ole snookems are glass-half-empty people. "

Hey Sinks. That's because we are throwing out all the cool aid. I hope your glass is still full but include a New Year resolution to swear off this drink. Three years of down should be evidence of melting.

I'm melting, melting, melting ...........

[TLBSHOW]

Gold futures mark 23% rise for 2002
Indexes up 40%; investment risks spell reward for gold

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7BA129CBFE%2DD5DF%2D458D%2D87D1%2DF4EB1E86BCCB%7D

[TLBSHOW]

Web Retailers Cheered as Shoppers Flock Online

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shoppers flocked to the Web this holiday season, boosting online sales from 20 percent to as much as 41 percent, even as traditional retailers showed what is likely to be the smallest gain in more than 30 years.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/814339/posts?page=43#43

[Digger]

Wouldn't you have the borders closed if terroism were the problem? What should one make of this following article & what have we done in Afganistan but sign ageements to push thru an oil pipeline? The people of Afgaistan are hardly getting any aid & the rebels are back in the territory. Why not smell the coffee & see that this gov will not protect us
"Powell: US will develop Iraqi oil
CAMERON SIMPSON
THE US said yesterday that it plans to secure Iraqi oilfields if it invades the country and it is looking at the possibility of using oil production to pay for post-war reconstruction.

However, last night it was warned that it would "reap a terrible whirlwind" if it went ahead with this strategy in a second Gulf war.

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state,told NBC's Meet the Press: "The oilfields are the property of the Iraqi people. And if the coalition of forces goes into those oil fields, we would want to protect those fields and make sure they are used to benefit the people of Iraq and are not destroyed or damaged by the failing regime on the way out the door."

Mr Powell said that revenue generated from the oilfields would be used "in accordance with international law and to benefit the people of Iraq".

Administration officials also say they planned to keep the United Nations oil-for-food programme running, at least temporarily, to ensure that post-invasion oil dollars are spent on the country's basic needs.

International oil companies such as Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell would want to take part in any rehabilitation of the country's oil industry, analysts said."