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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (525714)	1/17/2004 9:09:34 PM
From: redfish	Respond to of 769667

Preferably by raising taxes, but borrowing would be okay too. We're never going to pay back all that debt anyway, it will be a comfort to know that when it all comes tumbling down and the U.S. is a third-world backwater, that there is a plaque on Mars that says "WE WERE HERE!"

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (525714)	1/17/2004 9:53:23 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769667

The market continues to rise in anticipation of even stronger gains ahead. The job market is seeing very small signs of improvement but at least it is heading in the right direction. There are estimates starting to appear for a +7.0% GDP for the 4Q-2003. The initial GDP release is Jan-30th. Based on the guidance from the companies already public there is an outside chance the 1Q could be as high as +6%. This chain of successes is nearly unheard of in modern times. This suggests the economy is not only recovering but is about to explode. The stock market is reacting to this news with great enthusiasm. The outlook is not for a cooling off period as expected after the +8.2% tax rebate spike in the 3Q but for continued expansion all the way into late 2005.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (525714)	1/17/2004 9:59:27 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Call it the energizer bunny. Call it a Teflon market (nothing sticks to it). Call it a runaway train. Whatever adjective best suits your market bias it's hard to ignore that the path of least resistance is still up. The Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 have turned in eight consecutive weeks of gains. That's quite a feat. I thought I heard one TV commentator say the markets have not done that in more than 10 years. Investors seem anything but cautious and the plummeting volatility indices continue to reinforce a lack of fear. Normally when everyone is running the same direction it is a sign to start looking for the exits but until the trend changes all we can do is play what the market gives us. Driving these exceptional moves are strong corporate earnings and encouraging economic data. Friday revealed that consumers were very confident. The Michigan sentiment index soared to a surprising 103.2 in January when estimates were only pointing to a small rise to 94.0. The last reading was 92.6 in December making this the biggest jump since November 1992. So what's making the consumer feel so secure? A stock market with its first gain in three years doesn't hurt. Nor does rising home prices and low mortgage rates (which dropped again last week). Signs, albeit slow ones, that the job market is improving is probably the biggest reason that consumers are feeling upbeat.