1 March 2017
Under the constant threats, actions, and efforts of President Obama, such as burdensome taxation, destructive regulations and controls, derisive and scornful anti-capitalist rhetoric - "You didn't build that" - and public denouncements, and a generally anti-business atmosphere, American businesses severely curtailed new investments and new jobs.
For Obama's eight years, they only made investments when absolutely necessary, to maintain their fraction of their existing markets vs. competition from other busineses. And the result could be seen in the Dow: while it steadily recovered from the 2008 Great Recession, it was never strong, and never included the significant creation of new jobs. Unemployment levels stayed low only because people left the job market; i.e., many people stopped looking for jobs.
Further, in a mood of American decline, also fostered by Obama (not unlike President Jimmy Carter's "malaise"), assets, money, plants, jobs, etc., left the United States, destined for other countries. This protected a company's survival in the face of what seemed a virtually imminent severe decline for the U.S.
Whether one supposed Obama's wish to turn the U.S. into a third-world country, or to dismantle America's military, or that Obama would not defend America's interests - and existence - militarily in the face of any threats, the misgivings existed all the same.
With Trump's win of the Presidency and the concomitant attitude which he purveys, that muted and pent-up investment strategy has been washed away, by a floodgates-open torrent of innovative growth. The unleashed explosive result - from millions of Americans who
did build that - of this upbeat dynamism is obvious: the Dow was below 18,000 prior to the election. Now it is more than 3,000 points higher - growth of nearly 18% in three months!
The Dow represents - and is - an indicator not just of the current market value of busineses, but also of the anticipated future value of those businesses; i.e., of the current and anticipated growth (or decline).
That growth or decline is reflective of the current and anticipated levels of freedom which people - businessmen, investors, and the general populace - will experience, vs. the oppressive and stifling atmosphere of a would-be despot.
Economic freedom is the same as personal freedom; they are not separate. Hurt one and you hurt both. They are one and the same: the ability of any person to live his life free of oppression, making his own decisions on where to put his time, his efforts, and his money - i.e., his pursuit of happiness.
The changes since the election of November 2016 can be seen in economics, in the approval ratings of the new President, and in the attitudes of most Americans.
The future looks a whole lot brighter for everyone.
-- Scott
Go to top