The Obama Recovery: Dow logs best quarter in 11 years

[scheming daemons]

Not since 1998...when another Democratic President was in office... has the DJIA had a better quarter.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33093233



If you have a 401K... or a 529 college fund... or a pension plan... or a 403b....

...this matters to you. 63% of Americans have one or more of the above.



Democratic Presidents: Good for the economy.

[Cant trust em]

1. It will be a while before the job market gets better, but this is a start.

I do have some investments, so this is nothing to sneer at.

[ddeclue]

2. Whoopie... I have practically nothing in the markets.. how about MAIN STREET.. I don't care about WS

[scheming daemons]

4. 63% of population has 401K, pension, or 403b.... that's a LOT of "Main Street"

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. I think you mean "403(b)" not 503b

A 403(b) is a retirement plan for employees of non-profit institutions (schools, hospitals, etc.)

Searching the IRS website for 503b gives no result.

[scheming daemons]

7. Oops... you are right... typo

...

[ddeclue]

10. Yeah whatever most of them have very little in WS. WS benefits the rich not the middle class.

[scheming daemons]

11. Sorry... I have to disagree. We should poll DU.

I'm very much middle class, and I don't know anybody who DOESN'T have a 401K or pension plan that is tied to mutual funds and/or stocks.

[Cant trust em]

13. I make $58K a year, but I'm about to sign up for my work's 401K

I had a 403B at my last job.

[Statistical]

19. lol. 15% of my paycheck. (10% from me & 5% from my employer) for a decade...

it adds up. Add to that my IRA $5K per year and my wife IRA, and her 403B.

It is slow. You don't get rich overnight but over the course of 30 years it is an easy way to accumulate a large amount of money.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Enter the All News Is Bad News crowd.

[DevonRex]

5. Great news. Since we do have a lot in the market and have to watch it like

a hawk, this wasn't surprising. But it's great to see the actual numbers. Thanks!

[rucky]

8. What's everybody investing in?

We don't really make much of value. Any more than last quarter, at least, AFAIK.

[scheming daemons]

9. Tech stocks did especially well this quarter

Apple, IBM, Intel, etc....

[eridani]

12. The stock market is utterly disconnected from reality

The fundamentals still suck, and this is just another bubble. The real economy is jobs making things and providing services, and that isn't doing so well.

[reggie the dog]

14. What does it say when we are happy that the left is better

for big business than the right. I dont give a damn if 63% have market funds. I dont, and most of that 63 percent probably votes republican anyway.

[scheming daemons]

16. Doesn't compute. If "most of the 63% voted Republican", there wouldn't be Dem control of congress

...and the White House.

[reggie the dog]

17. I know some of the 63% vote on the left

and that some of the 37% vote on the right. But it does compute. With 37 % not having investments on one side imagine that over half vote on the left. Say 25% of the overall voting total That leaves 12% on the right. Now look at the 63% Imagine that 35% of the overall vote is on the left and that 28% of the overall total vote on the right. 28 +12 = 40 % on the right and 25% + 35% = 60% on the right. The Democratic party's base should not be the wealthy, it should be the middle class and the poor.

[Statistical]

22. Pst.... the middle class owns stocks via 401K & IRA. Your class warfare stereotypes not withstanding

[reggie the dog]

24. Yes the middle class owns stocks

so do the wealthy, the poor do not. If the sign of a good Democrat is someone who helps the wealthy and middle class then who will help the poor?

[Statistical]

20. Stop using facts.

[d_b]

15. w00t!

go rich folks! :woohoo:

[Le Taz Hot]

18. Well, whoopie for the Predator Class!

Most of us have or are in the process of being forced to cash in our I.R.A'a, 401K's, etc., in order to survive. The idea that there can be a jobless recovery is ludicrous.

[Statistical]

23. In every single recovery jobs have lagged 9-18 months.

Every single recovery after a recession since we have begun recording these things.

The idea that you can have jobs BEFORE a recovery is ludicrous.

[Le Taz Hot]

25. Does this lag include:

Delayed Foreclosures Stalk Market

Debra and Arthur Scriven were served notice in June 2008 that their mortgage lender, a unit of Citigroup Inc., was preparing to foreclose on their home. Fifteen months later, the Scrivens are still in their home near Columbia, S.C., and battling to stay there, even though a dispute with the lender over how much they owe prompted them to stop making regular payments last year.

Legal snarls, bureaucracy and well-meaning efforts to keep families in their homes are slowing the flow of properties headed toward foreclosure sales, even when borrowers are in deep distress. While that buys time for families ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125366552480532521.html

The reality is, we're sitting on a WHOLE lot of bad debt. The above is just ONE example. I say "we" because President Change decided to send the bill to the American taxpayer. That bad debt is not going to go away and, in fact, that bad debt hasn't been released onto the American economy yet so we are, in essence, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And we've more than one pair of shoes.

[Statistical]

26. No argument from me on the issue of debt.

It isn't just one type of debt

federal public debt
federal govt borrowing from SS
state debt
city debt
mortgage debt
consumer debt
enterprise debt

we simply have way way way way to much debt at every level.

This is going to slow any recovery because everyone for the first time in 30 years or so is being forced to pay down some debt.

Take Joe Smith typical American. He makes $42,000 a year but hasn't had a meaningful pay raise (pay raise exceeding inflation) in 5 years so each year her spends slightly more via DEBT (Credit cards, HELOC, refinancing). Joe Smith is spending at $50,000 per year but earning $42,000 per year.

This expansion in spending via debt kept the economy growing however now Joe is paying down debt.
Joe isn't going to spend $42K this (even that would be an $8K reduction in consumer spending). Joe is going to save about $2K and pay down about $6K which meanings spending of $36K.

Now $36K seems low compared to $42K but it hurts even more because Joe was spending $50K just a couple years ago. Multiply this by 300 million people and you can see why the recovery will be slow.

Until debt load goes down consumer, govt, and business ability to spend will be constrained. Even if we collectively can pay down 3% of the debt per year it likely will take 20+ years to pay it down to a reasonable level.

[sendero]

21. Wow....

.... now if only the stock market had jack fuck squat to do with the actual economy, we wouldn't be so still screwed.

[TexasObserver]

27. It's great news and a good indicator.

The economy runs on confidence. When consumers get scared, they cut back purchases, they increase savings, and they hunker down for the lean period. This reaction to a downturn in the economy actually makes the downturn worsen. As confidence returns, consumers start spending again, and that helps jump start the country's economic engine.

Deep recessions are cyclical events. This one will run its course, and it will recover at its own pace. The stock market's favorable movements are very helpful to the general economy, mainly because of the impact such movements have on the retirement port folios of millions of Americans.

This is great news, and puts Obama on track for a much improved economy in 2010. We'll be lucky to cut unemployment back to 8% by this time next year, however. Unfortunately, jobs tend to come back last.