America voted for Barack Obama. And then Wall Street voted against him. In the two days since Obama's election to the presidency, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its largest two-day point drop (929) in history and its largest percentage (10%) drop since the stock market crash of 1987. Ideas, like a capital-gains tax hike, have consequences.

Bull. The economy is in crisis and it has little to do with Obama at the moment.

I don't think there are any capital gains to tax right now. There are no capital gains. Unless the tax laws are changed investors will be using up their losses from 2008 for many years. Should they hold the stocks and not sell them it will take many years before the stocks recover the value they lost in 2008. That is if they ever recover.

You are right in principle though. During an economic slow down the last thing one would want to do would be to raise taxes of any kind. Also, it would not be good environment in which to introduce new social programs. With a massive defecit and falling tax revenues we would not be able to afford them.

Obi,

You can't be completely right. The selling that has been going on in the market over the last few months has been highly irrational. However, our stock exchange is always volatile in an irrational manner related to perceptions and reactions to news. The drops after this election result are not just a coincidence as these kinds of noticeable fluctuations occur after most elections and at most very major occurrences in the news and world events.

Likewise the drop after the first bailout passed was not coincidental either, nor are market reactions after major Fed announcements.

Obi,

Market movements after elections are always about the election. I just knew that I was going to hear that spin if this happened.

It's real and you guys need to deal. It's not just about word choice anymore.

And Obi, the right word is "bear."

Dan- Great point about ideas as well as actions or lack thereof, carry consequences.

This is mind boggling to myself as well as others I have spoken with, becoming the 44th president of the USA, will be the VERY first time in his adult life where he will be making decisions, in which he will be held accountable,not for his good intentions or eloquent words, but soley on the actions and the results of those actions.
It is hard to believe a 47 year old man has skated through life and has never made a significant achievement nor has made important decsions that carry consequences. He has never held a jon where he is judged on results,not by his good intentions.
This is the very thing the left despises,being held accountable on the results of their actions, as opposed to being judged by their words and good intentions. As the left is so fond of saying, "it isn't FAIR!"

Time to grow up Barry.

Is this the 'Change' we can believe in that we were promised?

It's ironic that the very people who instigated and promoted politics that caused the economy to tank, are the same who have not only retained power but have become more popular.

Guess not enough people are really paying attention.

Worse yet TFM is that the first election where B. Hussein Obama has any real opposition, he wins for the Presidency. Great (or flawed?) country or what?!

Since the market was up on Friday despite bad economic news does that means it was responding favorably to Obama's election?

If your inferance about the market is at all logical, then how do you defend Bush's folly of letting the DOW drop >30% in a year?

We have never seen the market so volitile, EVER, so this is not the fault of just Bush or just Obama. This is the result of free market gone amok, so therfore all of you unregulators are the real culprits.

Since it is getting cold, and the market is falling, does that mean the market doesn't like winter?

You guys need to work on your informal logic and ana-lysis skills (specifically on correlations, tautologies, and extranious variables.) before looking like any more of an idiot.