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Throughout the month of February, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted to close to 6400, conservative commentators across the country cackled that "the market is showing no confidence in Obama's policies".
In the last six weeks, up to this minute, the DJIA has gone up 1700 points... or... more than 25%.
the largest six-week DJIA percentage increase in history.
Suddenly... conservatives are no longer tying the DJIA to the President.
Amazing how that works, isn't it?
But let's stick to their original supposition - that the DJIA is a reflection of the President's performance:
DJIA on January 20, 1993 (Clinton's inauguration): 3425
DJIA on January 20, 2001 (Bush's inauguration): 10535
DJIA on January 20, 2009 (Obama's inauguration): 7925
DJIA at this very second: 8130
To summarize:
The DJIA went up by more than 300% during Clinton's term. In other words, every dollar you had in the market when Clinton was sworn in was worth $3 when he left.
The DJIA went down by more than 20% during Bush's term. In other words, every dollar you had in the market when Bush was sworn in was worth less than $0.80 when he left.
As you can see, in Obama's 3 short months, even in a horrible economy, you're back to turning a profit again with dollars that were in when Obama was sworn in.
The right always talks about how the "invisible hand of the market" will tell you how things really are...it cannot be "spun".
For once, I'm going to agree with them.
And I'll bet their foreclosed houses that the DJIA will be higher when Obama leaves office than when he came in. Much higher.
Like Harry Truman famously said, "If you want to live like a Republican, vote for a Democrat"
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