2,000 days of Obama: How have stocks done?

[IronLionZion]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/2000-days-of-obama-how-have-stocks-done-2014-07-11



LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- It’s been almost 2,000 days since President Barack Obama entered the Oval Office. We here at MarketWatch thought it would be fitting to measure this milestone against the stock market’s performance.

Obama was sworn in amid extreme financial turmoil in January 2009, roughly six weeks before the stock markets hit bottom in the wake of the Great Recession. Pretty much the only direction for stocks to go was up.

How far up, though? More important, how do gains under Obama compare with gains under other presidents who made it to 2,000 days?

Answer: He’s in the top half of the eight presidents since the Great Depression whose time in office lasted that long. That can always change, of course. And there’s considerable debate over whether he -- or any other president for that matter -- can influence the stock market or whether they’re just along for the ride.

“I wouldn’t be looking to give the administration a lot of credit for the stock market’s [performance],” said Sam Stovall, managing director of U.S. Equity Strategy at S&P Capital IQ. He notes, however, that stocks generally do better under Democrats than Republicans, particularly when stocks start out low.

I mainly want Reagan worshippers' heads to explode with jealousy.

[FreakinDJ]

1. Made a Killing in the Stock Market for my 401K

Thanks Obama

When you said "There are some really good values out there" I listened and TRIPPLED my 401K

[yeoman6987]

4. President Obama has made me more money then I could dream

I can't believe how much I have made. He has done an incredible job on the economy. I hope he keeps it up. He is the best President in terms of the economy.

[MoonRiver]

41. Mine has also tripled. That happened under Clinton too, but I had a lot less in then.

[onehandle]

2. The 1% make their money during Democratic Administrations...

The 1% 'cut their losses' during Republican Administrations.*

We are currently in an age where both are happening simultaneously on the backs of the 99%.

The next recession will make the Bush recession and financial system collapse seem mild.



*Tax cuts, regulation rollbacks, increase of corporate welfare, etc...

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. And those of us who lost our jobs

at the beginning of his time in office are the ones who had to sell all of our stock at a loss to pay bills to provide those giant gains to those wealthy enough to buy stock during the recession.

Matthew 13:12

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

[IronLionZion]

6. Sorry that happened to you buddy,

but I promise the president and Democrats didn't do it to you. They have put forth many jobs bills and programs to help the people, and met unprecedented obstruction from the GOP controlled Congress.

I took a job in the completely wrong field that involved commuting 4 hours a day to different places.

As people's retirement accounts get healthier, they will hopefully retire and open up lots more job opportunities for others.

I'm a big supporter of wage subsidies to encourage employers to hire the long-term unemployed, but we would need lots more dems in office to even consider such an action.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

7. I know they weren't behind the job loss.

But the constant crowing over the stock market highs, especially juxtaposed against the posts about declining sales at the Dollar stores points out the reality of the 'recovery'. The better off are getting better off, the worse off are getting worse off. Policies enacted by Goldman Sachs alumni across all administrations continue to keep money flowing upward.

[GoneFishin]

29. +1

[JHB]

5. More proof that Pres. Obama is lousy at socialism...

...and even worse at Marxism.

Of course, that'll just bounce off the people who think he's one in the first place.

[IronLionZion]

8. I pity the fools who bet it all on gold

I always ask them, "when you want to sell your gold who's going to buy it from you?"

That's why I stick to well diversified index funds that cover multiple industrial sectors and include some bonds. This is precisely the sort of investment that benefits from central bank monetary policy.

[former9thward]

13. Gold is up more than stocks so far this year.

Since 2000 the difference between gold and stocks isn't even close.

[IronLionZion]

14. Good luck with that. nt

[former9thward]

15. How many years have you been saying that?

[IronLionZion]

17. Who's going to buy it from you?

[former9thward]

18. I have bought and sold the stock equivalent of gold, GLD, several times.

I sell it on Scottrade in about a 0.1 of a second. Seems to be no problem. The same speed I can sell any other stock. The anti-gold people have been predicting doom and gloom for gold for more than a decade. Gold in the long run will never go down while the fed continues to devalue our dollar by printing more and more of them without any real backing. Gold is not going up, the dollar is going down.

[IronLionZion]

20. Dude, do you know what's backing GLD and how its priced?

It's a trust, a derivative. Do you really know what's behind that "investment" and how it derives its value? I don't trust them. That's way too much risk for me. I researched that one for a while and decided not to buy any of it.

[former9thward]

21. I am the last person in the world to try and sell someone on any type of investment.

Your mental comfort with your finances is the most important. I have had financial advisers complain I have too much money in cash. Tough, that is what I am comfortable with. I don't care that I could be potentially earning more or that I am 'losing' money to inflation.

I have always thought having a small amount of my portfolio in precious metals was a good idea. It may go up, go down, but never to zero.

[IronLionZion]

24. ok, I suppose a small amount is fine

I know people who bet most of their's on gold thinking they'll make out like bandits and just sell right before it crashes, and that's just insane.

[progressoid]

9. 53% of Americans have no stock investment.

And most that do, have very little. 62% of the weath is owned by 5%. A bull market means nothing to most of us.

Great for the wealthy, not so much for the working man/woman.

More than a quarter of Americans have no emergency savings, according to an annual survey released Monday by Bankrate.com. Of those who do have savings, 67% have less than six months' worth of expenses, what Bankrate calls the recommended amount, and those with at least three months' of expenses declined from 45% in 2013 to 40%.

76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/

Thanks for rubbing it in.

[IronLionZion]

10. So, do you think optimism or gloom and doom will encourage hiring?

Do you think employers are more willing to invest in new equipment and hire new workers and raise wages and benefits when economic indicators appear good or bad?

[progressoid]

11. They're NOT raising wages and benefits.

Economic indicators are great for the upper classes. Roll your eyes all you want, but all the money isn't trickling down to us.



Reagan worshipers heads aren't exploding. But Democrats seem to have embraced Reaganomics.

[IronLionZion]

12. Do you think there might be an order of when things happen?

Full employment comes before raising wages and benefits as an incentive to attract the best workers.

More jobs have to come first.

[progressoid]

23. I want what you're smoking.

Even if we were at "full employment", the money is going to the top and has been for decades. We've been getting screwed by Wall Street greed. Celebrating it when people are suffering is just wrong.

Productivity and profits are up. But income is only up for some of us ... mostly the top 10%

[DesMoinesDem]

16. Let's celebrate another bubble created by the Fed!

It's time to party like it's 2007!

[whereisjustice]

31. and amazingly each recovery is met by lower wages, longer hours, fewer benefits and protections

[B Calm]

19. I regained all my money lost during the Bush presidency and

made a healthy profit. I was worried under Bush that I wouldn't be able to retire in 2013, but thanks to Obama's leadership I did retire.

[IronLionZion]

25. Let's not forget that capital gains taxes were increased under this president's leadership

Wealthy folks paid lower tax rates under president Bush than they do now. That's a fact.

My opinion is it should be higher to include payments towards social security and medicare that is covered by payroll taxes but many wealthier folks make most of their "pay" from investments.

There is also less spending on war and defense during this administration, something most liberals have wanted since forever.

Every single conservative you will ever encounter will remind you that spending on social programs for the poor have increased during this administration. Remember why the tea party was founded?

[B Calm]

36. When was the capital gains tax increased?

[IronLionZion]

39. the new rates took effect in 2013

and has brought in lots of new revenue from mostly richest people. They've also aggressively gone after offshore accounts after bush turned a blind eye.

http://swampland.time.com/2012/12/07/5-new-obamacare-taxes-coming-in-2013/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2013/11/11/the-0-9-obamacare-tax-thats-about-to-hit-you/

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Ten-Important-Facts-About-Capital-Gains-and-Losses

I think it should be higher but we need a strong liberal dem majority in congress to do so.

[elleng]

26. It was always thus.

[IronLionZion]

27. Indeed

[whereisjustice]

28. The “bottom” 60% of all Americans own only 2.5% of all corporate stock.

Here are some depressing statistics: In 2013, CEOs of S&P 500 companies made 331 times as much as their employees. Your average American worker not in a supervisory role made $35,239, while the average CEO made $11.7 million, according to the AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch website. CEO pay has increased a whopping 937 percent since 1978, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute.

So while CEOs are making a killing, more and more people find themselves with stagnant-at-best pay. People laid off from good-paying jobs (the result of rigged trade deals) are forced into jobs at half their former pay and no benefits, if they can find a job at all. Weak wage growth predates the Great Recession. Between 2000 and 2007, the median worker saw wage growth of just 2.6 percent, despite productivity growth of 16.0 percent, while the 20th percentile worker saw wage growth of just 1.0 percent and the 80th percentile worker saw wage growth of just 4.6 percent.

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/14/8_reasons_ceos_makes_as_much_as_300_times_their_employees_partner/

[IronLionZion]

34. Obama raised taxes on the wealthy, including capital gains

That's a fact. Of course I think it should be a bit higher as they should contribute more towards social security and medicare to match the payroll taxes that those of us with salaried jobs pay. Folks who make most of their income though investments have experienced much lower taxes under the last administration. This was a source of a fairly significant political fight recently.

Obama has cut spending on defense and war, and raised spending on domestic programs and infrastructure, mostly through the stimulus plan and health reform. Medicaid expansion is a big deal to millions of Americans in the blue states that have chosen to accept it. The biggest part of the stimulus (ARRA) was the largest middle class tax cut in our country's history, much larger than anything Reagan or Bush have done.

Conservatives love to tell us how spending on food stamps and other benefits for the poor have increased. Let's not forget why the Tea Party came into existence.

The remaining piece of the economic recover is of course jobs. That's how many low income folks would benefit, by having more jobs available, and better wages and benefits. And this administration has been promoting several jobs bills and raising the minimum wage. In spite of the complaints and problems, the health reform was a major game changer for lots of regular Americans who now have access to health benefits when they didn't before, and its independent of their employment situation. Health reform also increases the attractiveness of working for smaller companies because now its not only the big ones who have health benefits. There are also advantages to self employment or early retirement or freelance work now because its possible to buy individual health insurance. That opens up more employment opportunities and we have been seeing big improvements in the jobs and unemployment numbers, as well as the uninsured numbers.

[B Calm]

37. How did Obama raise taxes without congress?

[IronLionZion]

38. It was part of the compromise with congress over the fiscal cliff

and the expiring bush tax cuts.

[whereisjustice]

42. Ah, the "rising tide lifts all boats" defense. The rising tide is drowning everyone who

isn't rich enough to own an ocean liner. Communities are still in decline, jobs are still out of reach and the only obvious beneficiary of the "recovery" have been the rich. Not just by 1% or 2%, but double digits.

The way Washington is being governed, I agree we should all be thankful that some food stamp benefits remain because the disparity between rich and poor is pushing the formerly known as middle class towards poverty. Perhaps we can be thankful for that.

Nearly 50,000,000 live in poverty. With few exceptions, people do not find themselves in poverty by choice. The objective should be policies that reduce that number instead of bandaides for the legions who continue to join the ranks.

People are working harder than ever for less pay and fewer benefits, shuffling between temp work and part-time every few months.

Now - the question that remains for this administration, how many more jobs are going to be lost to new H1B and trade agreements in the pipeline?

[Jamaal510]

30. With stats like these,

all of the wealthy capitalists ought to be lining up to hug Obama and helping him drive out the GOP. Instead, they're too busy being chickenshit and short-sighted about their money. All they seem to care about are paying as little in taxes as possible and not having to follow regulations. What was such an eye-opening piece of irony from this, however, was how stocks did even better under FDR than under Obama according to the graph (despite FDR's economic agenda arguably being even further to the left on the spectrum).

[IronLionZion]

32. Banksters were jumping out of buildings

and regular people were dying of starvation during the great depression when FDR took over and implemented socialist Keynesian policies to put people back to work through government programs and grow enough food by implementing smarter agricultural reforms.

Republicans have crashed our economy multiple times and then Democrats took over.

100% of republican voters completely forget the negative stuff that happened during Reagan's presidency, like the black monday crash in 1987, the savings and loan crisis, and how George HW Bush was defeated mainly because the economy was in recession and he looked clearly out of touch, while Clinton seemed to actually care about people.

[pampango]

33. Not quite as good as FDR's stock performance record but close.

Another example of republicans never learning from history.

[IronLionZion]

35. FDR didn't have tea party obstructing his every move

Congress was completely terrified back then during the great depression and willing to try anything that would help. Its a very different political climate now where the opposition party wants to promote the appearance that things are bad so they can blame the president.

[Oilwellian]

40. Here's a great stock tip for you

Revenueless, Assetless CYNK Soars Over $5Bn


Owning 210 million shares, the CEO, and only employee, of CYNK, is now among the top 400 richest people on earth.

Isn't that amazing??? I say jump on it right now!!!!!

[TBF]

43. And who does this help? nt