Well there are a lot of subjective issues with Bush's agressive war stance- not the least of which is the issue of whether this action will actually *increase* global terror attacks - but we aren't going to change any minds on the matter here, I am sure of that.
But one area where Bush seems really, really, really, really clueless is international trade and since the global markets are currently larger than the US in total and potentially 10x the US mkt this naivete from the US president is not something we can afford, imo.
Dishing out the "regime change" and assassination rhetoric might have an effect of scaring your target into defeat (or it might not) - but the side effect of this is a global boycott of US goods which is potentially much more damaging to our society than the tyrant in power who we want to remove. It also spurs the enemy into fighting the good fight doesn't it?
At my company people are literally *afraid* to travel to Europe now. Is this good or bad for business? And its not just europe, don't kid yourself... Canada, the Pacific Islands, rest of asia, you name it virtually every american and every american company is getting tomatoes thrown at it right now.
Back at home wrt the economy- can anybody explain to me how these relentless "terror alerts" actually achieve anything? What are we supposed to do when we get one of these anyway? Or should I ask, what do we do when there *isn't* a code orange terror alert (about a week per year) - do we go out in the street and dance? This stuff costs a lot, increases tension and serves no purpose as far as I can see.
I kept hearing that this war was the make it or break it for Bush. Unless it wraps up in a few weeks (which I seriously doubt- it looks like another vietnam/N Ireland/Somalia to me) Bush's poll numbers will drop dramatically I predict. THEN the markets will rally, because the side effects of Bush's policies are killing growth companies. I don't think we need to wait for 2004.
So my point is, I am not blaming Bush for the stock market per se. But I am blaming him for the global boycott of US goods going on now, I am blaming him for stirring the tension in asia which has their economies in limbo... all of that. These things get resolved in some way and the mkts will rally I predict. JMO |
