Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, November 7, 2012
Election The Masters of the Universe Lose
Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 7:48 AM
Wall Street investors, the Masters of the Universe, are among the big losers of last night's election. Elizabeth Warren, their enemy number one, was elected, and Romney, their dream president, was not. Now Obama basically owes them nothing. Paul Krugman:
Investment bankers — who normally lean Democratic — went overwhelmingly to the other side, pouring cash into Mitt Romney’s coffers in the no doubt correct expectation that a Romney administration would dismantle financial reform and treat their wealth with the adulation they believe to be their birthright.But Romney lost and Obama won. The limits of their power have been cruelly exposed, and the reelected president now owes them nothing. Did I mention that Elizabeth Warren is going to the Senate — a Senate that will be substantially more progressive and less Wall Street friendly than before?
Bad move, guys.
The bad move has evidently hit the market hard (it's down nearly 300 points at this moment).
So, along with the Tea Party and Netanyahu...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an even more awkward time with Washington and re-energized critics at home who accused him on Wednesday of backing the loser in the U.S. presidential election....the Masters of the Universe lost bigtime.
15
Uh, I don't know that the market thinks Romney is the 'dream president'. Check this link from Market Watch: "The Stock Market Loves President Obama"
There may have been a drop between last night and today, but the commentary I've seen is that it's concern about deadlock over the "fiscal cliff" than any condemnation of Obama. Obama has been great for stocks, apparently:
There may have been a drop between last night and today, but the commentary I've seen is that it's concern about deadlock over the "fiscal cliff" than any condemnation of Obama. Obama has been great for stocks, apparently:
You could look it up. The S&P 500 has gained 76% since his inauguration in January 2009, while the Nasdaq 100 is up 128%.
Compare that to the S&P 500’s 13% decline and the Nasdaq 100’s 45% wipeout in the first term of his predecessor, George W. Bush; or the mere 25% gain in the first term of conservative icon Ronald Reagan; or even the 60% gain in the halcyon early 1990s in the first term of Bill Clinton.
14
@Chris, I think that's more of a reflection of economic news out of Europe today. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the week; my middle-term expectation is that markets will rightly anticipate modest prosperity over the next few years.
12
And as payback for not giving them their way, looks like the Wall Street crowd is prepared to tank the stock markets for the remainder of the week, just, you know, as a lesson to the rest of us.
11
@ Gus: We elected Neville Chamberlain rather than Joseph Goebbels - I suppose that's a reason to celebrate. But Obama's foreign and domestic security policies should disturb anyone with the vaguest interest in our rapidly eroding civil liberties. The one area where I see a modicum of hope for reform would be immigration, if only because the saner Republicans in Congress have seen the shadow of their mortality in the Latino break toward Obama.
10
Masters of the Univers lost? I'm confused. Is this some sort of allegorical thing? Who's Bibi then? He Man? Skeletor? Battle Cat?
9
@6 No shit. If he can't/won't make the capital gains be treated as all other income, we're boned.
And how about a requirement that if you buy a stock, you have to hold it for at least TWO FUCKING SECONDS? (With a possible exception for genuine "market-making.") Can we stop pretending that too much of Wall Street is a financial video game, not part of the real economy?
And how about a requirement that if you buy a stock, you have to hold it for at least TWO FUCKING SECONDS? (With a possible exception for genuine "market-making.") Can we stop pretending that too much of Wall Street is a financial video game, not part of the real economy?
8
@7, I'm not arguing that at all. I'm a huge fan of Warren and happily contributed to her campaign. I have huge hopes for her as a senator - and beyond.
What I'm arguing against is our tendency to think Obama's somehow guaranteed to morph into the banksters' mortal foe in his second term. He wouldn't stand up for Warren against them and their pocketed Republican congresspeople in his first term, so while we can hope he will stiffen his spine now that doesn't mean we should assume he will.
What I'm arguing against is our tendency to think Obama's somehow guaranteed to morph into the banksters' mortal foe in his second term. He wouldn't stand up for Warren against them and their pocketed Republican congresspeople in his first term, so while we can hope he will stiffen his spine now that doesn't mean we should assume he will.
7
@1 are you arguing that Elizabeth Warren would be more relevant and important as an Obama appointed federal bureaucrat than as the elected Senator of Mass? Cause 6 years as a Senator, actually making laws, seems like a whole hell of a lot more valuable.
6
yes. obama is NOT out there pushing real wall st. reform. we still have the too big to fail banks. he did not get warren in. he does not message a left message. wall street didn't win, but also, it's not clear it lost.
the democratic party can barely muster the courage to propose that warren buffet's secretary pay AS MUCH in percent of income for taxes as buffet. wtf? center right stance anyone? obviously buffet should pay MORE. and I am not seeing that obama is targeting the 15% capital gains rate. and, he's not pushing wpa style jobs. and, he's barely pushing an infrastructure program. go read his program, it's mainly tax cuts as the solution totally buying into the right wing frame that government is bad, taxes prevent economic growth and other right wing malarky. wall st. got bailed out and only had to repay the loans, they didn't PAY for their fuck up, WE PAID for it. (yes they paid back but really, they need to pay more. mere payback is subsidizing their risk seeking, it's socialism for wall street, enuf said. they are still winning, duh.
the democratic party can barely muster the courage to propose that warren buffet's secretary pay AS MUCH in percent of income for taxes as buffet. wtf? center right stance anyone? obviously buffet should pay MORE. and I am not seeing that obama is targeting the 15% capital gains rate. and, he's not pushing wpa style jobs. and, he's barely pushing an infrastructure program. go read his program, it's mainly tax cuts as the solution totally buying into the right wing frame that government is bad, taxes prevent economic growth and other right wing malarky. wall st. got bailed out and only had to repay the loans, they didn't PAY for their fuck up, WE PAID for it. (yes they paid back but really, they need to pay more. mere payback is subsidizing their risk seeking, it's socialism for wall street, enuf said. they are still winning, duh.
2
Thank you to all who voted. You made the greatest nation on earth better. Now let's deal with the great gulf of inequality in incomes and rebuild the middle class. As for Netanyahu, he's put himself between a rock and an Obama.
1
Remember, this is the Obama who surrendered without a peep rather than put himself on the line before Congress to get Elizabeth Warren to head up her brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
If Obama had not abandoned her she wouldn't have run for Senate in the first place.
If Obama had not abandoned her she wouldn't have run for Senate in the first place.
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