Upton Sinclair must be spinning in his grave.

Dark-Star on October 1, 2009 at 5:52 PM

Who cares what Upton Sinclair is doing? He was a communist clown who wrote one of the more notorious pieces of anti-business propaganda in American history. That your liberal nitwit freshman English teacher made you read it should tell you everything you need to know.

Dhuka on October 1, 2009 at 7:10 PM

Don’t worry the two rancid pyle’s will be back in time to sign cap and trade.

I do know that if Health Care Reform and Carp and Tax bills pass, the Dow
is going down down down.

I am concerned with giant monopolistic companies reducing competition in the marketplace through vertical integration.

A brilliant quote from Alan Greenspan in 1961 (who I’m suspicious remains an economic libertarian, and only conducted himself the way he did as Fed Chairman on a bet with Ayn Rand to see how fast he could sink an economy that had already decided to go full-bore debt explosion):

It takes extraordinary skill to hold more than fifty percent of a large industry’s market in a free economy. It requires unusual productive ability, unfailing business judgment, unrelenting effort at the continuous improvement of one’s product and technique. The rare company which is able to retain its share of the market year after year and decade after decade does so by means of productive efficiency — and deserves praise, not condemnation.

Note the “free economy” part. Historically monopolies have only existed at the encouragement and assistance of a governmental/regulatory body.

2. global trade allows inferior products to be sold alongside superior products, or more importantly MIXED IN WITH them

Upton Sinclair must be spinning in his grave.

Concerned with your “naked Capitalism” comment. I hope you aren’t suggesting government control the food market and make it even worse.

shick on October 1, 2009 at 2:52 PM

Ummm.. NO.
I am concerned with gian monopolistic companies reducing competition in the marketplace through vertical integration.
Some of thast is good.
But when you to get to the point that only huge conglomerates can actually compete in the marketplace bcs of their sheer size (like being able to weather financial losses longer than the little guy which has nothing to do with being efficient) then we’ve got a problem.
Your food is cheap bcs:
1. large conglomerates control the markets
2. global trade allows inferior products to be sold alongside superior products, or more importantly MIXED IN WITH them
3. the GOVT has stuck its hands in the ag pie, making large corproations more profitable through global trade, regularions, etc.
Little producers can no longer compete.
Just check out what happened to the hog & poultry industry.
It’s happening to us.

“Bad News: Unemployment Up; Good News: Gun Employment Up Too.”

Joe Biden keeps talking about the fabulous improvement on the economy he’s seen from the stimulus, but thus far, those effects have mostly been limited to the White House. Initial jobless claims rose last week to 551,000, 17,000 more than the previo…

I’ll bet I can call tomorrow. Big rally erases today’s small but well-needed corrections.

TheMightyMonarch on October 1, 2009 at 4:21 PM

I keep waiting for the opposite: a drop, followed by a larger drop, followed by Widespread Panic and the bottom falling out, as the speculators get wiped out and the professionals sober up.

Update: Dow down 203, 10 year raging at 31/32nds up, yield now back down to 3.19%.

Jaibones on October 1, 2009 at 4:12 PM

I’ve been obsessively watching the Dow and S&P, more out of morbid curiosity (I got out when the S&P hit about 850), and I’ll bet I can call tomorrow. Big rally erases today’s small but well-needed corrections. It’s like friggin’ clockwork. Every drop brings in the bottom-callers.

Thanks for the common sense tip! My families turned into a bunch of gift-card givers – I need to remind them all.

PatMac on October 1, 2009 at 1:52 PM

My family’s the same way, and it drives me nuckin’ futs.

I don’t mind an occasional gift card either (A Lowe’s card will get quickly and wisely spent), but every single birthday and Christmas, it’s all my family wants.

I’m trying to convince them to cut down on the gifts this Christmas, which is usually a retail explosion triggered by my mother. My idea is that each adult gets one very nice gift from everyone. My sister’s four kids (the only grandchildren so far) get no more than four gifts each. Everyone gets stockings full of little goodies. Then we have a nice dinner, a bottle of good wine, and we toast the impending doom of the American Republic.

Fools.

There are no market fundamentals in play in the stock market right now. The current levels would require earnings five times the historical average. Inventories are down, orders are down, real unemployment is over 15%.

And the looting of the nation continues…

TheMightyMonarch on October 1, 2009 at 4:04 PM

I couldn’t agree more. And the small investor is so desperate for a return that they are pure speculators, drunk on a rising Dow, just like at the end of the tech bubble.

Sell.

Update: Dow down 203, 10 year raging at 31/32nds up, yield now back down to 3.19%.

Jaibones on October 1, 2009 at 3:36 PM

There are no market fundamentals in play in the stock market right now. The current levels would require earnings five times the historical average. Inventories are down, orders are down, real unemployment is over 15%.

The stock market bubble can be explained thusly; The Federal Reserve is forcing a devaluation of the dollar, which sends stocks higher. We are also seeing a rigged game in terms of high-frequency trading designed to rope in the suckers that are either long on the stock market or in retail investment.

When it comes crashing down the people left holding the bag will be Joe Six-Pack who will see his 401(k) decimated, and also taking it on the front end when his taxes go sky-high to pay for deficits that China and Japan won’t fund anymore. Add in the resulting dollar destruction from the Fed’s monetizing of the debt and he won’t be able to feed his family with the unemployment checks he gets, paid for in worthless funny money.

And the looting of the nation continues…

CyberCipher on October 1, 2009 at 12:58 PM

And I’ve got plenty of peanut butter.

The markets have been optimistic I think based on the century-long business cycle, and the sense that the investor needs only to find the bottom. O’Bonehead’s socialism and suicidal fiscal policy can only be defied so long, and when it turns, it could turn really bad.

Hope I’m wrong. This next couple of weeks is critical, as the beginning of the 4th quarter often is. Buck Ofama.

I’ve tried to post the link about four times, but for some unknown reason the HA site seems to be blocking me.

HA HA.

I figured the jobs would jump back up once Cash for Clunkers ended. It simply gave a phantom appearance of the market getting better when the jobs were only temporary.