Originally Posted by Ardy
Originally Posted by Hekate
Originally Posted by Ma_Republican
the market closed today at 6,763.29 -299.64 -4.24%.


My 401k's performance will strongly influence my future votes. frown

From previous discussions, I would have thought some more noble cause would most strongly influence your voting decision... perhaps Obama's performance on women's issues. But let's leave that aside as being off topic this discussion.

I presume that you (and others posting here) have the right to choose how to deploy your investments. I wonder if you take any responsibility for that or simply leave the burden on Bush and Obama as a matter of convenience. You see, actually, the decisions that you make... investment wise... do make a difference. As it happens my investments were up nicely last year ... as is the case also this year to date.

It just seems to me that people should take a little more responsibility for their decisions. And, particularly people of a conservative persuasion who generally seem inclined to feel the individual is primarily responsible for his own welfare. There are several people on this forum who have been warning about the extreme nature of the situation we face... and the resulting vulnerability of stock prices. So... one must presume that everyone was fully warned regarding the safety of a broad generalized investment in stocks.

The Dot-com stock bubble of Clinton's presidency was not something he produced, nor did it actually make the country a whole lot better off in general. And, it further follows that the collapse of those "values" was not ultimately a presidential responsibility.

Stock prices of a year and more ago were unsustainable high. They were inflated by a variety of bubble influences that eventually collapsed. Current economic carnage is our collective payback for tolerating and encouraging a bubble economy. In this case, the most recent bubble that we are paying for now is something that happened under the previous president.

It is not possible to say where it will all end, or when. But it is possible to see the roots of the catastrophe. Those roots were grown over several years... even going back to the Clinton Administration.

I cannot parse the state of America. We are in trouble and the current path our President had embarked on has not worked in the past and I have no reason to believe it will in the future. There is no more noble cause than protecting my family. It is my only goal in life. I have tried to instill a sense of achievement in my children and tried to encourage a work ethic that will carry them through their lives. I have always encouraged them to reject the jealousy that is being embraced by this administration. The idea that because people have made a lot of money they are somehow screwing the other people just does not compute. The idea that they made a lot of money should be celebrated as proof that America works. But, that idea has become passe and elitist.

The Declaration of Independence tells us that it is our right to have Life, Liberty and the prusuit of happiness, but it does not tell us what those concepts encompass. It wisely does not put limits on those concepts. But this President wants to put limits on them. He wants conditional happiness, conditional liberty and something less than a life that if experienced to the fullest.

A proud member of the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy, Massachusetts Chapter

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Thomas Jefferson