The market rose yesterday but it was clear the buying and short covering was drying up faster that the short selling.
Honest people often fail to see the corruption in others while dishonest people always challenge the honesty of others. The ones with the hanging chad problems and the election challenges tend to be the dishonest folk who expect the worst in everyone else. Al Franken is an example of those who condoned groups that were fraudulently registering voters because until votes were counted it was not known if any of the fraudulent voters were actually voting. Of course then they immediately accused Election Day checkers of discrimination if they did their job and checked too carefully for vote fraud. The reason the dishonest challenge the vigilance and high standards of honest people is because the dishonest expect others to be as corrupt as they are.
How low in corruption can one go than for the Democrat Governor of the corrupt state of Illinois demanding a kick back from candidates he reviews as replacements for Senator Obama from Chicago, the most corrupt city in the USA? Monday at dawn the Democrat governor of Illinois was arrested by the Feds, booked and then released.
The CIA periodically evaluates the corruption level of the nations of the world. The Moslem states of Bangladesh and Nigeria usually come out near or at the bottom of the barrel and Finland is usually one of the least corrupt near the top. The voter registration frauds, the attempts to win Senate seats in court challenges, and the selling of Senate seats is a bad start for the new administration. Some of the most corrupt administrations have been led by untainted but slow witted presidents who oversaw corrupt administrations. Smart presidents do not tolerate corruption unless they too are corrupt.
Optimism dried up yesterday as did stock buying as a result of the scandal in Illinois. We can expect scandal to bring out the sellers today even though the futures are currently higher. Asian and European markets were both mixed early today. The auto bridge loan agreement is seen as a maneuver to pass a compromise this year and then the real auto union deal would be done by the new administration. This is seen as the House majority trying to get Republican fingerprints on the deal so that they can say the Republican’s supported the bailout after the unions demand their kickback.
This column was wrong when we said the laid off auto workers collect 90% of their salary from the auto companies. They apparently get 95% of their old salary and some get public unemployment compensation too. The auto industry needs to go through a restructuring in bankruptcy court because they cannot survive with the current unions sucking the life out of them. It is possible that the Senate will have the brains and courage to reject any bailout before restructuring. Unfortunately President Bush would apparently sign anything he is handed at this point.
A market decline is likely to be short if Obama can get a grip now on his party so they appear less confused and more adept and organized than currently perceived.
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