Dow Jones up 11% in 2010

[RecycleMichael]

For those who have money invested in pension plans and personal retirement plans, 2010 was a good year. It wasn't great, but it sure beats losing money.

President Obama took office on January 20th, 2009. The Dow started the day at 8,077. Less than two years later, the Dow closed today at 11,569. That is a 43% improvement.

I realize the economy means many things, including unemployment rates, consumer confidence, etc., but it also includes for many of us looking at stocks for our retirement.

I am sure the Obama haters will find ways to find fault with my logic and say the economy is doomed or say that the only reason the stock market is doing well is because of Republican fiscal policies.   

[guido911]

Application for unemployment insurance dropped sharply last week, less than two months after the republicans retook the house and whooped the dems in the last election.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101230/ap_on_bi_ge/us_economy

I am sure the republican haters will find ways to find fault with my logic and say the economy is doomed or say that the only reason the jobs market is doing well is because of Obama's fiscal policies.    

[RecycleMichael]

Those republicans aren't in office yet, but go ahead and take all the credit for everything from November on.

I wouldn't expect anything less.

[Red Arrow]

I have shares in our employee stock purchase plan (15% discount) that is still $20 less than I paid for it.  So much for going for the capital gains rate vs. ordinary income rate.  At least anything that gets bought at the end of this month will be cheap.

Just checked the 401K.  Dividends were more than the loss in market share so I didn't lose overall but not by much.

[Red Arrow]

Those republicans aren't in office yet, but go ahead and take all the credit for everything from November on.

The recent elections probably were responsible for getting both sides to compromise some to break the deadlock in Congress.  Removing some of the uncertainty was supposedly the requirement to get "things" moving again.

We'll see if it holds up with time.

[Conan71]

For those who ascribe to the "confidence" end of the economy, it's entirely possible that big business which is publicly loathed by Democrats (even though they gladly accept their contributions) is now optimistic of a more pro-business climate in Washington with the Republican sweep in November.

Afterall, supposedly U.S. corporations were sitting on the largest horde of cash in history while making record profits the last two years. Why all the sudden are they starting to hire and spend money on capital equipment again?

We took on huge orders in November and December at the company I work at.  November alone represented a full quarter of our previous year's total gross sales.  Whether or not that's a reflection of a Republican overhaul I can't say for certain.  Purchasing agents usually don't know details like that.  If anything, I simply think it's an overall sense of the free market pretty much pulling itself up out of the trenches.  The government's intervention in the economy was pretty minimal compared to what they could have done spending-wise.  Personally, I'd rather see a slower recovery rather than a rapid one accomplished with high borrowing rates.

So far so good.  If President Obama gets reelected in 2012, I predict with the normal ebb and flow of economics, his legacy will benefit with great years in '14-'16.  If he's not re-elected and if it's a Republican in the White House lucky enough to preside over it, undoubtedly, those boom years will all be credited as a result of President Obama's policies I'm quite certain.

FYI, we are looking for welder/fitter/fabricator types right now and a controls technician familiar with PLC's, electronics, and/or combustion technology if anyone knows of some reliable help.  Drop me a PM if you or anyone you know fits that criteria.

[RecycleMichael]

...it's entirely possible that big business which is publicly loathed by Democrats,...

Stop making crap up. Democrats don't loathe big business. You sound like John McCain.


Here is a list of 200 democrats you are also big business.

Zubaid Ahmad, Managing Director, J.P. Morgan Securities
Roger Altman, Co-Founder and Chairman, Evercore Partners, Inc.
Omar S. Amanat, CEO, T-Corp., Founder and Former CEO, Marketscape
Karen Anderegg, Former CEO, Clinique
Marc Andreessen, Co-Founder and Chairman, Opsware Inc.
Michele Anthony, Executive Vice President, Sony Music EntertainmentClarence Avant, Chairman, Motown Record Company
Mario L. Baeza, Chairman and CEO, TCW and Latin America Partners
Stewart Bainum, Jr., Chairman, Choice Hotels International
Charlene Barshefsky, Senior International Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Former U.S. Trade Representative
Alan Belzer, Retired President and COO, Allied-Signal
Daniel L. Black, Principal, The Wicks Group of Companies, LLC
David Bonderman, Founder and Managing Partner, Texas Pacific Group
Shelby Bonnie, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, CNET Networks
Crandall Bowles, Chairman and CEO, Springs Industries
Eli Broad, Chairman, AIG Retirement Services, Former Chairman, President and CEO, SunAmerica
Edgar Bronfman, Former Chairman, Seagram Company
Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Warner Music Group
Jeff Brotman, Chairman, Costco Wholesale
Bobbi Brown, CEO, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics
Owsley Brown, Chairman and CEO, Brown-Forman
John H. Bryan, Former Chairman and CEO, Sara Lee
Susie Tompkins Buell, Co-Founder, Espirit de Corp
August A. Busch IV, President, Anheuser-Busch
Brook Byers, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Lisa Caputo, Senior Financial Executive
Tom Castro, President, El Dorado Communications
Vinton G. Cerf, Senior Vice President of Technology Strategy, MCI
Mark Chandler, Vice President and General Counsel, Cisco Systems
Peter Chernin, President and COO, News Corp.
Henry Cisneros, Chairman and CEO, American CityVista
Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg, Founders, Liz Claiborne
Jim Clark, Founder of Netscape, Silicon Graphics, and Healtheon
Kenneth Cole, Chairman and CEO, Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.
Timothy C. Collins, Founder and CEO, Ripplewood Holdings
Jack Connors, Jr., Chairman, Hill Holiday
Lewis Cullman, Private Investor
Aart de Geus, Chairman and CEO, Synopsys
John K. Delaney, Chairman and CEO, CapitalSource
Reid Dennis, Managing Partner, Institutional Venture Partners
Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO, IAC/InterActiveCorp
John Doerr, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Blair Effron, Vice Chairman of the UBS Banking Department
Bob Epstein, Co-Founder, Sybase
Fernando Espuelas, CEO, VOY
Jerry Fiddler, Co-Founder, Former Chairman and CEO, Wind River Systems
Marshall Field, Chairman, Field Corp.
Larry Fish, Chairman, President and CEO, Citizens Financial Group
John Fisher, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Richard Fisher, Chairman Emeritus, Morgan Stanley
Robert J. Fisher, Chairman, Gap, Inc.
Joseph Flom, Founding Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Tom Freston, Co-President and Co-COO, Viacom
Paul Fribourg, Chairman, President and CEO, ContiGroup
Philip Frost, M.D., Chairman and CEO, IVAX Corporation
Glen S. Fukushima, President, American Chamber of Commerce in Japan
Roy Furman, Co-Founder, Furman Selz
John Gage, Chief Researcher, Sun Microsystems
Mark T. Gallogly, Partner, The Blackstone Group
Ralph Gerson, President and CEO, Guardian International Corp.
Charles M. Geschke, Founder and Chairman, Adobe Systems, Inc.
Charles K. Gifford, Chairman, Bank of America Corporation
Rob Glaser, Founder, Chairman and CEO, RealNetworks, Inc.
Donald J. Gogel, President and CEO, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
Mark Gorenberg, Partner, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Phyllis Grann, Former Chairman and CEO, Penguin Putnam Publishing Group
Michael D. Granoff, President and CEO, Pomona Capital
Earl Graves, Sr., Chairman and CEO, Earl G. Graves Publishing Company, Founder and Publisher, BLACK ENTERPRISE Magazine
Gerry Greenwald, Chairman, Greenbriar Equity, Former Chairman and CEO, United Airlines
Garrett Gruener, Managing Partner, Alta Partners, Founder, Ask Jeeves
Paul Guenther, Former President, Paine Webber
Robert Haas, Chairman of the Board, Levi Strauss
Bill Hambrecht, Founder, Chairman and CEO, W.R. Hambrecht
Dr. Sidney Harman, Executive Chairman, Harman International
Alan Hassenfeld, Chairman, Hasbro
William H. Hayden, Senior Managing Director, Bear Stearns & Co.
F. Warren Hellman, Co-Founder and Chairman, Hellman & Friedman
Leo Hindery, Jr., President, AT&T Broadband
Bob Holland, Industry Partner, Williams Capital Partners, L.P.
Robert Hormats, Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs International
Reed E. Hundt, Partner, Charles Ross Partners, Former Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Glenn Hutchins, Co-Founder, Silver Lake Partners
Lee Iacocca, Former Chairman, Chrysler
Irwin Jacobs, Chairman and CEO, QUALCOMM
James A. Johnson, Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC
Robert Johnson, Founder, Chairman & CEO, BET Interactive
Sheila Johnson, CEO, Salamander Development LLC
Thomas S. Johnson, Chairman and CEO, GreenPoint Financial Corp.
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Senior Managing Director, Lazard
Donna Karan, Founder and Chief Designer, Donna Karan International
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Co-Founder, Principal and Producer, DreamWorks SKG
William E. Kennard, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group
Kirk Kerkorian, Chairman, President and CEO, Tracinda Corporation
Steve Kirsch, Founder and CEO, Propel Software
Bruce Klatsky, Chairman and CEO, Phillips-Van Husen
Michael S. Klein, CEO of Global Banking, Citigroup
Fred Kleisner, Chairman and CEO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Jerome Kohlberg, Special Limited Partner, Kohlberg & Co.
Kay Koplovitz, Chairman, RTV Media, Founder, USA Networks
Philip Lader, Chairman, WPP Group, PLC
Sherry Lansing, Chairman, Motion Picture Group, Paramount Pictures
Chris Larsen, CEO, E-Loan
Geraldine B. Laybourne, Chairman and CEO, Oxygen Media
Rochelle Lazarus, Chairman & CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
Alexandra Lebenthal, President, Lebenthal
Debra L. Lee, President and COO, BET Holdings
R. May Lee, Chief Operating Officer, Rowen Warren, Co-Founder, Market Boy
Thomas H. Lee, Founder and President, Thomas H. Lee Company
Gerald M. Levin, Retired Chairman and CEO, Time Warner
Arthur Levitt, Jr., Senior Advisor, The Carlyle Group, Former Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission
Edward Lewis, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, Essence Communications
William M. Lewis, Jr., Co-Chairman, Investment Banking, Lazard
Edward H. Linde, President and CEO, Boston Properties
Howard Lipson, Senior Managing Director, The Blackstone Group
J. Bruce Llewellyn, Chairman and CEO, Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co.
Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Diana MacArthur, CEO, Dynamac Corporation
Vincent Mai, Chairman and CEO, AEA Investors
Anthony E. Malkin, President & COO, W&M Properties
Peter May, President & COO, Triarc Companies
Raymond J. McGuire, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Judith McHale, President and CEO, Discovery Communications
Regis McKenna, Regis McKenna, Inc.
Mack McLarty, Former Chairman and CEO, Arkla
Dennis Mehiel, Chairman, Four M Corporation
Prakash Melwani, Senior Managing Director, The Blackstone Group
Ed Meyer, Chairman, President and CEO, Grey Global Group
Heidi Miller, EVP, JPMorganChase
Hamid Moghadam, Chairman and CEO, AMB Property Corporation
Meridee Moore, Managing Partner, Watershed Asset Management
John Morgridge, Chairman, Cisco Systems
Phil Murphy, Senior Director and Former Head, Goldman Sachs Investment Management Division
Amy Pascal, Chairman, Sony Motion Picture Group
Alan Patricof, Co-Founder, Apax Partners
Frank H. Pearl, Chairman and CEO, Perseus, LLC
Richard Perry, Founder, Perry Capital
Charles Phillips, President, Oracle Corporation
Kim Polese, Co-Founder and Former CEO, Marimba
Robert Pozen, Chairman, MFS Investment Management
Hugh B. Price, Senior Advisor, Piper Rudnick, Former President and CEO, National Urban League
Penny Pritzker, President, Pritzker Realty Group
Michael E. Pulitzer, Chairman, Pulitzer Publishing Company
Jeffrey Raikes, Group VP, Microsoft
Steven Rattner, Managing Principal, Quadrangle Group LLC
Leonard Riggio, Founder and Chairman, Barnes & Noble
Stephen Robert, Former Chairman and CEO, Oppenheimer & Co.
Sandy Robertson, Founder and Partner, Francisco Partners
John W. Rogers, Jr., Founder, Chairman and CEO, Ariel Capital Management
Felix Rohatyn, Rohatyn Associates LLC
John Roos, Managing Director, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati
Benjamin M. Rosen, Chairman Emeritus, Compaq Computer Corp.
Daniel Rosensweig, COO, Yahoo!
Jane Rosenthal, President, Tribeca Productions
Dave Roux, Co-Founder, Silver Lake Partners
Robert E. Rubin, Member, Office of the Chairman, Citigroup
Kevin P. Ryan, CEO, DoubleClick
Haim Saban, Chairman and CEO, Saban Capital Group
Herbert and Marion Sandler, Chairmen of the Board and CEOs, Golden West Financial Corporation
Roger W. Sant, Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus, The AES Corporation
Henry B. Schacht, Director and Senior Advisor, Lucent Technologies, Former Chairman and CEO, Cummins Engine
Dan Scheinman, Senior Vice President, Cisco Systems
Ivan Schlager, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google
Bernard L. Schwartz, Chairman and CEO, Loral Space & Communications
Eli Segal, Chairman, SchoolSports, Vice Chairman, Riverside Partners
Gordon Segal, CEO, Crate and Barrel
Nicole Seligman, EVP & General Counsel, Sony Corporation of America
Rick Sergel, President and CEO, National Grid USA
Ron Shaich, CEO, Panera, LLC
Jonathan Shapiro, President, Lillian Vernon
David E. Shaw, Chairman and CEO, D.E. Shaw & Co.
Stanley S. Shuman, Managing Director, Allen & Co.
Russell Simmons, Chairman, President and CEO, Rush Communications
James Sinegal, President and CEO, Costco Wholesale
David B. Singer, Chairman, Oscient Pharmaceuticals, Founding CEO, Affymetrix
Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs and Chief of Staff, Nickelodeon Networks
Jeffrey H. Smulyan, Chairman, President and CEO, Emmis Communications
Barry Sternlicht, Chairman & CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Thomas F. Steyer, Founder and Senior Managing Member, Farallon Capital Management
Stiritz, William P., Chairman, Ralcorp Holdings, Chairman, Energizer Holdings, Former CEO, Ralston Purina
Lou Susman, Vice Chairman, Citigroup
Sally Susman, Senior Communications Executive
Percy Sutton, Chairman Emeritus, Inner City Broadcasting
Robert Tannenhauser, CEO, Business Loan Express LLC
Frederick Terrell, Chairman, Carver Bancorp; CEO and Managing Partner, Provender
John W. Thompson, Chairman and CEO, Symantec
Warren M. Thompson, Chairman and President, Thompson Hospitality
Jonathan Tisch, Chairman and CEO, Loews Hotels
Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Dean, London Business School
John Vogelstein, Vice Chairman, Warburg Pincus
Stephen Volk, Vice Chairman, Citigroup
Diane von Furstenberg, Chairman, Diane von Furstenberg Studio L.P.
Theodore Waitt, Chairman, Gateway, Inc.
Vera Wang, Founder, Vera Wang Company
Bruce Wasserstein, Investment Banking
Jann Wenner, Chairman, Wenner Media
Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman, Miramax Film Corp.
Robert Weinstein, Co-Chairman, Miramax Film Corp.
Jim Wiatt, President and CEO, William Morris Agency
Benaree P. Wiley, President and CEO, The Partnership
Ann L. Winblad, Co-Founder and Partner, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Jason H. Wright, Senior Vice President, Merrill Lynch & Co.
David Zucker, President and CEO, Midway Games

[Ed W]

Application for unemployment insurance dropped sharply last week, less than two months after the republicans retook the house and whooped the dems in the last election.   

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. But it's par for the course in political arguments.

[Conan71]

Nice way to take half a quote and leave out the context.  What's the point of your list RM?  Did I hit a soft spot?

Are you denying that Democrats have pandered constantly to the middle and lower class by claiming the Republicans are only looking out for the interests of big business and the wealthy people who run them?  They kept pointing to Wall Street and their Republican friends who protected them in Congress for the huge collapse, yet many of the wealthy financiers on Wall Street are Democrat and donate heavily to Democrats.

Thanks for the list, I've copied it and I'll pull it out some time when the argument comes up again about the Republicans only caring about the interests of big business.  Of course Democrats look out for big business, they are the ones financing their campaigns aren't they?  Yet they always try to make it about big medical, big pharma, big insurance, big banks, etc. screwing the little guy.  WTH else was most of the slate of major legislation all about the last two years?

[RecycleMichael]

I just cut and pasted a list of democratic contributors to John Kerry's campaign. It was the first list that popped up.

Yes, it is a nerve. I just cringe when republicans try to define democrats or conservatives try to define liberals with broad generalizations.

There are members of the democratic party that are pro-business, pro-gun, pro-life, etc. Of course, there are members that are not.

[Conan71]

I just cut and pasted a list of democratic contributors to John Kerry's campaign. It was the first list that popped up.

Yes, it is a nerve. I just cringe when republicans try to define democrats or conservatives try to define liberals with broad generalizations.

There are members of the democratic party that are pro-business, pro-gun, pro-life, etc. Of course, there are members that are not.

And there's closet cases in the GOP as well.  You know by now I'm an equal-opportunity offender

[RecycleMichael]

For all your equal rights I demand equal lefts.

[Red Arrow]

For all your equal rights I demand equal lefts.

I think the best you will get is 3 rights to make a left.  Works good at no left turn intersections.

[Conan71]

And for those who had a good year in 2010, they just got pwn3d the last few days in the market.

Not a bad day for bargain hunting if you aren't afraid of another precipitous drop.

[swake]

And for those who had a good year in 2010, they just got pwn3d the last few days in the market.

Not a bad day for bargain hunting if you aren't afraid of another precipitous drop.

Today is a great day to buy