DJIA
January 22, 2001: 10,578.20  (CPI adjusted 12,621)
September 29, 2008: 10,365.45

NASDAQ
January 22, 2001: 2,758 (CPI adjusted 3,291)
September 29, 2008: 1,984

S&P 500
January 22, 2001: 1,355  (CPI adjusted 1,617)
September 29, 2008: 1,106

Budget Surplus 2000: $236 billion (after 8 years of Bill Clinton)

Budget Deficit 2008: $407 billion (after 8 years of Dubya/Dick/McSame)

...steps up and bites us in the economic butt.

I can't tell you how many "moderate" Republicans have told me over the past twenty-five years that they don't really like the Republican Party, but they always vote Republican because the Republicans are "good for the stock market and good for business."  Factually, this has never been true, but most "moderate" Republican voters seemed to prefer the comfort of self-delusion.

 

While there are no startling differences between performances of the securities markets during Democratic and Republican administrations, the markets have done slightly better during Democratic administrations than Republican ones.  The argument that Republicans do a better job of encouraging the securities markets is a myth.

Conversely, it is a myth that Republicans start more military conflicts than Democrats, something that is very bad for the economy in the long run.  Democrats have started as many conflicts as Republicans since WWII.  On the Democratic side, we have Truman in Korea, Kennedy/Johnson in Viet Nam, Clinton in Somalia.  The Republicans have Reagan in Granada, Bush 41 in Panama and in the Persian Gulf, and Dubya in Afghanistan/Iraq.

I think we really do need to take some cupcakes to the offices of each and every one of these Republicans, starting with Eric Cantor and Thelma Drake.  Red frosting for Cantor, pink for Thelma Drake.

The Virginia Congressional delegation totally split on the bailout.

For: Boucher, Moran, Cantor, Wolf, Davis
Against: Scott, Drake, Goodlatte, Goode, Wittman, Forbes

Any theories why they voted the way they did?  

he's in the leadership and kinda had to. Jim Moran and Rick Boucher voted correctly on this one, which I'd expect them to do.  I'm also not surprised about Tom Davis, he needs a functioning economy for when he retires from Congress in a couple months and is looking for work. :)  As to Frank Wolf, who knows about that guy, I've never been able to figure out what makes him tick except that he likes to stay in Congress and isn't the sharpest tool in the shed...

Why did Drake, Goode, Goodlatte, Forbes and Wittman vote "nay?"  I'll give you a few choices: 1) they're right-wing ideologues; 2) they're idiots; 3) ah, but I repeat myself. Heh.

Finally, with regard to Bobby Scott, my guess is that he might not like this bill from a populist and/or progressive perspective, but I don't know for sure.

"local lawmakers said 'no' to bailout".

[Bobby] Scott, of Newport News, said his central concern was the inability to establish fair value for any assets that the government would purchase. If the plan included such a guarantee, "then it would be a good deal," Scott said.

"If we limited purchasing prices to fair value, we could purchase assets, re-establish confidence, wait for the markets to reinvigorate, and the private sector could then buy assets back from the government," he said.

The bill also should have included assistance for struggling homeowners, Scott said.

And he called the taxpayer protection provisions "flimsy." If the plan did not pay for itself, a future administration would have had to propose a tax on financial institutions, and passage would be unlikely.

Scott also criticized "huge loopholes in the bill that allow companies to continue to pay executives exorbitant salaries."

The five GOPs who voted against may have been watching their backs in this election since most of them are facing some credible challengers and can't afford to be tone deaf to the populist revolt against this bill. Don't be surprised if some of them end up voting "yea" in the next round.

CEPR recently released a report comparing the state of the economy in 2000 and 2008. We use 25 indicators of economic well-being and economic performance and find that 23 of the 25 indicators are worse in 2008 than they were in 2000, as can be seen in this table: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/...