Reply #24: For me, it was not the election...

[jswordy]

...it was the data that came in early in 3Q 2004 regarding 1Q and 2Q that caused me to adjust my outlook from moderately negative to negative. If you take the aggregate of that first half '04 data, it is stunningly negative.

I think the market is still riding on "irrational exuberance" at present, even though the Dow appears muted. The cards are dealt now, and the consumer buying binge will have to retract.

Then what is left in a country that has given away most of its manufacturing base? We learned today that the last acrylic fiber plant in North America will be closed. The last one, but it is not the first in a long chain of "last of its type" closings in the North American manufacturing sector.

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/050126/solutia1.shtml