"Stocks tumbled Tuesday, with investors bailing out of a variety of..."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Tough session on Street
Major gauges each lose around 1 percent as investors bail out of a slew of stocks.
December 27, 2005: 4:58 PM EST
By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com staff writer

http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/27/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks tumbled Tuesday, with investors bailing out of a variety of sectors in a broad-based end-of-the-year selloff.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 105.50 to 10,777.77, Charts), the S&P 500 (down 12.12 to 1,256.54, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (down 22.53 to 2,226.89, Charts) all lost around 1 percent.

The losses erased the Dow's slim gains for the year and left the S&P 500 up 3.7 percent and the Nasdaq with a 2.4 percent gain, with just three full trading sessions left in 2005.

Trading volume Tuesday was mild, with many Wall Streeters still on vacation after the long holiday weekend. All financial markets were closed Monday in observance of Sunday's Christmas holiday. The low volume exaggerated the downward movement Tuesday, analysts said. However, investors were also bothered by weakness in energy and tech stocks and a brief inversion of the yield curve, which revived worries about a slower economy.

[gratuitous]

1. The entire year's gains wiped out in one 105 point loss

Tell me again about that robust economy? That one allus cracks me up.

[BlueJazz]

2. Well..I say we don't worry Our Beautiful Minds about all this stuff ...

..and just go to McDonald's!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. That's RIGHT! I encourage y'all to put some food on your family!

:evilgrin:

[BeHereNow]

5. Yes, fatten your children...

more fodder is needed for the war machine, and soon.
The piglets in the Congress are running short at the
trough. Must keep payola cash flowing through
the defense contracts to refill the plates and offshore
bank accounts of the Congress members.
BHN

[Sparkman]

4. If the EURO has gained so much against the dollar & DJI is flat for 6th yr

How can the U.S. economy be what Friedman and the phony "economists" of the RW banker elite corps say is a truly "strong" one?
Gold is at a multi year high, I've bought bullion coins (eagles) and have not been dissapointed for several years now.

[ochazuke]

10. Did you see Milton on Charlie Rose last night?

I watched the first few seconds. He said we have unprecedneted prosperity. So, I switched it off.

A bald-faced lie is a great way to start an interview, isn't it?

[Sparkman]

11. Friedman from 2003 John Hawkins' interview.

Missed Charlie, but I'm already aware of that RW elitist, who parades as an economist...he's really a fraud, who is no more that an apologist for the corporate billionairs who would have cut taxes to 10% on sales of goods alone, no state or federal income tax, no limit on inheritance size exempted from estate tax and they actually say eliminating requirements on foreign government worker's rights will allow those countries to compete with and eventually "get to the point (size) we are at" to quote Friedman. This is the big lie, they never want to compete for international goods and services with more super-powers, and EVERY ONE OF THEIR POLICIES IS CONSISTANT WITH THIS LITERAL PHILOSOPHY=LAW.

From 2003 interview by RW "journalist" John Hawkins

John Hawkins: Slate's Chris Suellentrop has pointed out that Howard Dean has said "that he would demand that other countries adopt the exact same labor, environmental, health, and safety standards as the United States" if they wanted trade agreements with us (Dean said something similar to the WAPO). If that policy were ever implemented, what sort of damage do you think it would cause to the US economy?

Milton Friedman: I think it would cause immense damage, not to the US economy, but to other economies around the world --- much more to the others than to us.

John Hawkins: Really? So you don't really think it would hurt the US economy that much?

Milton Friedman: It would hurt the US economy, but it would be disastrous for the countries that are smaller than we are. World trade depends on differences among countries, not similarities. Different countries are in different stages of development. It is appropriate for them to have different patterns, different policies for ecology, labor standards, and so forth.

From my point of view, we in the United States have gone overboard in respect to the extent of regulation and detailed control of labor standards, industry, and the like. It's bad for us, but fortunately we had two hundred years of relatively free development to provide a strong basis to sustain the cost. But to impose this on other countries that are not at that stage would be a disgraceful thing to do.

John Hawkins: Because it would keep them from ever getting to the point we're at?

Milton Friedman: That's right.

John Hawkins: Do you think George Bush, with the economy being as it was, did the right thing by cutting taxes?

***HERE COMES THE MOST IRRESPONSIBLE "TAX CUTS" THEORY

YOU WILL EVER HEAR FROM AN INFAMOUS "ECONOMIST".....

Milton Friedman: I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible. The reason I am is because I believe the big problem is not taxes, the big problem is spending. The question is, "How do you hold down government spending?" Government spending now amounts to close to 40% of national income not counting indirect spending through regulation and the like. If you include that, you get up to roughly half. The real danger we face is that number will creep up and up and up. The only effective way I think to hold it down, is to hold down the amount of income the government has. The way to do that is to cut taxes.

John Hawkins: Now let me ask you about that. In the Reagan years, we cut taxes and it ended up leading to economic growth which increased the amount of revenue that came into the government.

Milton Friedman: Well, economic growth will inevitably increase the amount of revenue coming into the government. But so far as the Reagan years were concerned, we have to be careful there. There were initial cuts in 1981-1982 and then there was a very good income tax law in 1986. But in between that, there were increases in taxes as well. So it's not an entirely clear picture that you can attribute the growth in revenue entirely to the tax reductions. But it's a hard thing to disentangle the effects of several things happening at the same time. In particular, there's no doubt that growth is very favorable to government revenue.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Ah yes the economy is as strong as ever

really...

[f-bush]

9. As I've always said:

Business is evil. Pure and simple. To me, this is one of the two components that make up most of the problems in this world, the other is the lust for power. Amazing what greed and ego can do to a person, corporation, nation or any like minded group of individuals.

[dweller]

7. heckuva job you're doin' there

*moron ...


dp

[KharmaTrain]

8. One Last Shot To Grab Some Quick Profits

As a very smart broker once told me "it's not where the market ends the day that counts...it's where it starts...that's where you make the money".

Note all the stories this weekend about "better than average xmas sales" and all the jazz about how the economy is strong and going great. This was boogie man talk to those with money in the market to keep it in their as the prices ran up in December. The market doesn't work on "real time", but on the projections. If K-Mart "announces" "better than average sales" for the holiday season, even if it's not backed up with real numbers, it still gets played on "The Street" as something positive...the stock price rises and the table is set.

Remember, the tax year ends on December 31st and there's a lot of rich people with rich accountants and number fudgers who are doing all sorts of last minute manuevers to milk that last bit of profit out of the year. This has nothing to do with the real world as "adjusted" projections and quarterly and year-end reports "correct" the high promises that lead to the stock price to fall...but by then the big money has moved on to the "next big thing"...

Happy New Year...

[Jayhawk Lib]

12. Poor Economy in Wichita, Ks

The economy here in Wichita is terrible with thousands of aircraft workers laid off due to the Boeing sale to Onex. A lot of vacant houses with for sale signs on them. The housing market which has been bad is getting worse. Energy prices sky high and not very good public transportation.

There is absolutely no signs of any kind of prosperity. It looks like we are going to be in the pits for a long time to come

[SheilaT]

13. And to think that most people

still believe that the stock market does better under Republican administrations. The Dow-Jones first crossed 11,000 the second week of March, 1999. Now, nearly seven years later, it's still below that point.