Letting the truth seep through this morning (Urban Survival)...
"..51% of people they (WSJ) polled disapprove of the way George 2 has handled the economy.
Not without reason, as it turns out. We went back and looked up where the Dow was when voters
went to the polls in November of 2000. Surprise: The Dow closed election day at 10,952.18.
While we can't get excited about either of the candidates running for the White House, as such
thoughts lead to elevated blood pressure, we can nevertheless report that if the elections were held
today a Dow portfolio would be down 7.7% compared with the same holding in November 2000.
To make matters worse, a portfolio that had been made up of the NASDAQ 100 (IXIC) would have
declined from Election day 2000's 3,415.79 to 1,885.19 at yesterday's close. That's a whopping 44.8%
decline.
Then there is the performance of the S&P 500 for the same period. Yesterday, the S&P 500 closed at
1,113.56 versus a close of 1,431.87 on November 7, 2000. It's a 22.2% decline for the S&P.
But wait. It gets even worse for GW. We have also have to account for inflation during the
intervening four years between then and now. Assuming 3% per year, compounded, that's a 9.27%
decline in purchasing power of the portfolio.
So we can either add 9.27% purchasing power to the 2000 market figures, or subtract 9.27% for four
years worth of inflation and apply it today today's number to put everything basis 2000 purchasing
power.
Yes, we could quibble about the annual inflation rate, but calling it 3% per year seems if anything quite
charitable. If you want to do a different calculation, you're welcome to. Our point is this is not the
kind of economic record anyone would willingly stand on...(Continued)"
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