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You're right, this current recession was inevitable. It was not caused by the tax cuts, and permanent tax cuts would not have prevented it.
On the war . . . I'm not going to waste time debating that, because I still think it was a good idea, and you clearly don't. Nothing we say will change that. Regardless, I do not really fault Bush for increasing defense spending after Clinton's cuts and 9/11. It's really the explosion in non-defense spending that bothered me.
I view the market's current performance as mostly reflecting the current recession and the fundamental problems facing our economy. No doubt about that. I also think, to a much smaller extent, the market has been registering its skepticism about Obama's economic policies. Investors are forward-looking. If they think Obama is going to make it harder for companies to do business in America, or if the recovery will be weaker because of Obama's policies, then they will be less likely to invest in the stock market. The income tax increase is only one of the many proposed tax increases that is part of Obama's overall economic policy. I guess it's hard to know what, exactly, the market does not like; but I definitely believe that they don't like Obama's plans.
And thank you for responding without asking me if I was ing kidding you.
