Two Stories That Were Made For Each Other

by JASmius

The Dow plunging like Hans Gruber in Diehard:

Back to reality for the stock market -- and back down. Wall Street focused Wednesday on the bleak landscape ahead for the economy and sold off, wiping out the big gains from a day earlier and then some. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 519.83 points.

The selling was intensified by worries about debt problems in Europe [i.e. Now France is "getting wobbly" - hey, mon cherie, welcome to the Boned Club!].

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve said it planned to keep interest rates ultra-low for two more years [i.e. wearing out the printing presses even more than they have already]. After some initial confusion, the stock market staged a huge comeback and had one of its best days.

But the interest-rate news proved to be a distraction. The Fed made the pledge because it sees almost no chance that the economy will improve substantially by 2013 [i.e. that's at least how much longer Red Barry will squat in the White House], and when investors focused on that, they dumped stocks again.

"Now it gets back to the fundamentals," said Mark Lamkin, founder of Lamkin Wealth Management, which manages $215 million.

The Dow closed at 10,719.94, down 4.6% for the day. By points, it was the ninth-steepest decline for the market. The Dow has now lost more than 2,000 points in less than three weeks.

The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 51.77 points, or 4.4%, to 1,120.76. It had been down 14 earlier. The Nasdaq fell 101.47 or 4.1%, to 2,381.05. It had been off 24 earlier.

Annnnnnd another sterling example of Barack Obama's skilled, courageous leadership:

President Barack Obama will vacation with his family in Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of the eastern state of Massachusetts, at the end of this month as he has done in years past, the White House said Wednesday, despite the weak economy and negotiations on the U.S. debt problem.

Press secretary Jay Carney defended Obama's plans to take a break even as he has pledged urgent action on those issues.

"I don't think Americans out there would begrudge that notion that the president would spend some time with his family," Carney said.

Yeah! He's not an indolent fool like Bush was when he went to dig postholes in Crawford! Besides, The One must be low on shrimp again.

And to think Carney actually sought out this job.

Somewhere, Beltway Bob must be laughing his big, fat ass off.

[cross posted at Hard Starboard]