Stock Market in Landmark Plunge<P>

self | 06-21-2002 | self

[Tuco-bad]

The S&P experienced its worst 17-week period ever (based on number of up/down S&P weeks), with the S&P down 14 of the past 17 weeks.

[steve50]

A N.C. congresscritter recently asked Mr. O'Neil if he had any idea where 17.3 billion dollars from this years budget is they can't seem to find. Mr. O'Neil has yet to reply, might not see him for awhile

[discostu]

I'm not saying there was no such thing as cooked books before Billy, I'm not stupid. What I'm saying is that nobody cared under Clinton. There's a difference between being subtle in cooking the books so the law doesn't jump on you (which almost everybody does) and just outright making sh!t up like Enron (and others, the list just keeps getting bigger) did. Companies only do the later when they know the people that are supposed to be throwing them in jail for that aren't paying attention. You don't ignore a liability equal to 50% of your companies gross annual revenues (and declare it immaterial when your auding firm points it out) if you think somebody in the SEC or Justice might actually look at your books. You know do that crap if you know things are going to be rubberstamped and ignored.

[rdavis84]

"Your indiscriminate use of capital letters leads me to suspect that you're really Barbara Cartland."

It's a carryover from my Engineering days :-)

Who's Babs Cartland?

[discostu]

Right, that's why the GOP controls congress and has the majority of the governorships, because most Americans are liberals. Guess again.

[rdavis84]

"Your indiscriminate use......."

BTW, I try not to Discriminate, but no Matter How Much I Try, Some folks just Plain DESERVE it! ;-)

[dighton]

Keep reading #79 until it sinks in.

That is all.

[rohry]

"That's an awfully broad and negative generalization about liberals, who make up the majority of people in the USA."

I don't know where you live, but until recently I lived in New England (which is fairly liberal) and no more than 30% of the people there could be classified as liberal. Public opinion polls put the figure at less than 20%, conservatives at 30%. The rest were too drunk or stoned to answer...

[discostu]

That's of the 13 million people that voted in 2000. There's 280 million people in this country. Not really much of a sample set.

[mwl1]

You are greatly mistaken. The Clinton economic mirage was in spite of his policies, not because of them. We have been overtaxed for years, and our corporate chieftans recognized throughout his tenure that leaders can lie, and skate.

This nation is just beginning to atone for the sins of twice electing Clinton and the other despicable monsters he brought to our nation. This policy disaster includes, but is not limited to, the tragedy of 9/11, the rupture in our foreign intelligence and military capability, the contempt for the rule of law, the breakdown in our courts and civil institutions, the continued decline in our schools, a complete breakdown in morality and acceptable conduct, and the continuing economic downturn. May God have mercy on us.

[discostu]

Oh and as for reason to hate "these people" I think the raping of the Constitution and love for stealing from my paycheck is good enough reason to hate them.

When liberals stop stealing from my paycheck because they feel like giving the government more money I'll stop hating them. Until then stay out of my siteline.

[RightWhale]

It isn't bad news for everyone

Lucent, Monsanto, AOL, and IBM hit one-year lows today. The overall trend has been down for 2 years and continues in that direction. While a person could dollar cost average and pick up bargains in almost any sector, the bargains will be better in 2 months. It might be that a simple interest-bearing account will do better for a while yet. On the other hand, there are techniques to deal with the stock market no matter what the trend might be if a person has a reliable crystal ball.

[wcbtinman]

"...liberals, who make up the majority of people in the USA."

I'll bet you even say that with a straight face.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

The 90's stock "bubble" was a combination of luck (y2K during that time led to 3 years of massive investment in software and hardware by corporations around the world - helping the technology rich Nasdaq soar)....and Clinton Classic Corruption.

He had a group of plumbers who were benefitted by bumping the market any time it dropped. These plumbers likely included Bubba's friendly Chinese Communists and Terrorists buddies not to mention organized crime gangs who made it their purpose to infiltrate the Stock Markets just as they successfully infiltrated the Labor Unions before them.

These plumbers are now working the other side of the street - and are uniting to sell down the market at every opportunity.

That and the attack on America with the looming war in the Middle East - along with the Demonrats (led by chief rat Hillary) vise grip on America's governmental throat - squashing anything that looks like good common sense economic measures - have helped push this market lower and lower and lower.

Both Clintons fantasized about being Roosevelts (He-FDR and she- Eleanor) coming to rescue a nation in the depths of an economic depression......and that is their plan!

They could care LESS about Mr. and Mrs. Average American who is getting crushed into the dirt in the latest economic downturn - which is getting uglier by the day.

The Clintons used skullduggery to mask the devastating effects of the huge tax increase of 1993 because they were bound and determined to not be perceived as another Jimmy Carter.

In other words, - they KNOW that socialism and tax increases KILL ECONOMIES....so to "fix" things - they had their plumbers hard at work.

THAT is the true and worst scandal of the 90's and one that the Bush administration would be able to uncover if they were not preoccupied trying to keep the Middle East from exploding into war, India and Pakistan from firing Nukes at each other, and assorted terrorists from attacking this nation again!

For God's sake - take your vapid tripe elsewhere.

I don't have one of those little barf pictures to post to you, DNC drop in - but maybe somebody else will do so.

Go away!

[rohry]

"When the second half rally doesn't take it might get interesting"

I am saddened when I see posts from well-meaning people who are buying stocks in this environment thinking that it is "patriotic."

[scouse]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/regulation/congress/

In 1993, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposed closing an accounting loophole that allowed companies to avoid recording stock options on their balance sheets. According to a Merrill Lynch study, expensing stock options would have slashed profits among leading high-tech companies by 60 percent on average. Corporate America aligned with the accounting industry to fight the FASB proposal, with the result that in 1994, the Senate, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), passed a non-binding resolution condemning the proposal by a vote of 88-to-9.

[discostu]

The 90's stock "bubble" was a combination of luck (y2K during that time led to 3 years of massive investment in software and hardware by corporations around the world - helping the technology rich Nasdaq soar)....and Clinton Classic Corruption.

Let's not forget to blame good old fashioned American stupidity while we're making an invetory. I remember a very apocryphal article in WSJ in February of 2000. It was about a company (some .com, wish I could remember their name) that had IPOd a year earlier at $.50/ share, after 1 year on the market they were trading at $18/ share. The punchline of this story is that the company still, 1 year after IPO, didn't have a business plan. Forget products and income and stuff, they didn't even have a business plan... but were trading at $18. I'd love to be able to lay crap like that at Billy's feet but that's just dumbness on our part (well, everybody that owned that stock anyway).