Dow Jones now below 7000.

[Brittain33]

Is this change we can believe in, president obama?

Yes, Obama should pull several hundred billion in net worth for Citibank and General Motors out of his magical ass and rescue the stock market.

Do you believe your own propaganda?

[J. J.]

True, but Obama needs to step it up.

As I said before, we are not in a crisis mentality, although we should be. The attitude today is far more lax than was the attitude on September 12th, 2001, when Americans universally recognized that we were 'at war', even though the damage done to the finanical system by the housing cataclysm is far worse than the damage on Sept. 11th and the human toll, over the course of many years, may be comparable or higher as well.

Take the stimulus bill, for instance, the one bill that should have been least controversial at all. It was only supported in Pennsylvania by 47% of the people, according to one poll. Sherrod Brown, the gentleman from Ohio, had to fly back from a private event so that it could pass by the skin of its teeth. It was criticized and attacked from all corners.

One shudders to think what would have happened had the Republicans controlled Congress. We probably would not even have a stimulus bill to this very day. Nor would we have a budget- the Republicans of today would probably force another government shutdown than to pass an Obama budget.

Compare that to the Emergency Banking Act of March 1933, which passed on the very first day of Congress's special session known as the 'Hundred Days':

I think you have hit on this somewhat correctly.  Obama lacks direction, so far, on the economic crisis; so do Democrats in Congress.

The poor transition, which is still ongoing, is also troubling.

The problem isn't that Obama (or Bush) created the crisis, it is the handling of it.  So far, it has not been good, but I still think it is just too early to tell.

[Beet]

True, but Obama needs to step it up.

As I said before, we are not in a crisis mentality, although we should be. The attitude today is far more lax than was the attitude on September 12th, 2001, when Americans universally recognized that we were 'at war', even though the damage done to the finanical system by the housing cataclysm is far worse than the damage on Sept. 11th and the human toll, over the course of many years, may be comparable or higher as well.

Take the stimulus bill, for instance, the one bill that should have been least controversial at all. It was only supported in Pennsylvania by 47% of the people, according to one poll. Sherrod Brown, the gentleman from Ohio, had to fly back from a private event so that it could pass by the skin of its teeth. It was criticized and attacked from all corners.

One shudders to think what would have happened had the Republicans controlled Congress. We probably would not even have a stimulus bill to this very day. Nor would we have a budget- the Republicans of today would probably force another government shutdown than to pass an Obama budget.

Compare that to the Emergency Banking Act of March 1933, which passed on the very first day of Congress's special session known as the 'Hundred Days':

I think you have hit on this somewhat correctly.  Obama lacks direction, so far, on the economic crisis; so do Democrats in Congress.

The poor transition, which is still ongoing, is also troubling.

The problem isn't that Obama (or Bush) created the crisis, it is the handling of it.  So far, it has not been good, but I still think it is just too early to tell.

Part of the problem is that the current crisis is still ongoing in playing itself out, while by 1933 the Depression had mostly played itself out already and it wasn't much more of a step to declare a holiday on all banks and debase the currency. Also by September 12th, the terrorist attacks were over. In each case, we could get a full sense of the problem we were being confronted with.

In the current case, the administration has to try and figure a response in the midst of the ongoing crisis.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Beet, I think you and I could have drafted a stimulus and a budget that would have passed the majority of both parties in the congress.  We are 6 months past Lehman, 4 months past the election.

The markets rallied after the election because it was believed Obama understood he needed to be pragmatic.  The rally turned into a rout when the market started to realize that Team Obama's "answers" were only going to make the problem worse.

Obama is planning long term as if the patient was stable and healthy.  In reality, the patient is continuing to bleed profusely.

Geithner, the one Obama pick I complained about the most, is simply moving too slowly.  Our economy needs resolution of this banking crisis.  We need a set of rules to determine the winners and loses, instead of keeping the terminally ill on continuous life support.

Heck, as much as I hate Jim Cramer (CNBC's Mad Money), and even though he is a lifelong Democratic, I rather go with his plan than continue to wait for Geithner to arrive at a conclusion.  

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Another great rally and back over 7000.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Yes! I am up 13% in the past 3 days on my portfolio. Buying into BAC @ $5 looks like a good move now. CITI and BAC are claiming profits and this rally may have some legs. Unlike past jumps, we didn't see a big sell off the following day. If we're up big again tomorrow, then oh boy.

Now, I hope President Obama stops the insane talk of another stimulus bill that will hurt our recovery further.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Another great rally and back over 7000.

     Yep. One of the stocks that I'm investing in for economics class is particularly strong (Genentech).

[Sam Spade]

To me, this looks like the beginning of the "major bear market rally" I referred to last week.  I thought it would take a little longer (say into April) before appearing, but you can't get everything right... 

There still is the possibility of one more down leg before the "rally" mentioned above occurs, but quite frankly, if we get higher than the close today over the next few days or don't get below 700 over the next few weeks - I would ignore that possibility.

As far as it all goes, I can see two real likely long-term targets for this "rally" over the next few months (wouldn't see it going past 6-8 months, 3-4 months is also quite likely).  One is somewhere around SP500 @ 850-900 (translates into a bit over 9000 on the DOW), the other is around SP500 @ 1000 (translates into around 10,000 on the DOW).  If we do reach SP500 @ 1000, I would sell most everything or short the phonebook (or something like that).

So, good luck and hold long for now.

[2952-0-0]

Ahh no...getting crushed by shorts.

Two weeks ago I was making Ponzi Scheme-like returns.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I consider it easier to just assume my 401(k) is valued at $0 and start working from scratch.