Week in Review Part IV: Politics and Dow Jones

Lots of polls…with Newt Gingrich kicking butt except in New Hampshire.

Iowa…NY Times / CBS

Gingrich 31%
Romney 17%
Paul 16%

Iowa…ABC / Washington Post

Gingrich 33%
Romney 18%
Paul 18%

[But in this one, six in 10 potential caucus-goers say they could change their minds.]

Iowa…Des Moines Register

Gingrich 25%
Paul 18%
Romney 16%

Iowa…NBC / Marist

Gingrich 26%
Romney 18%
Paul 17%


Iowa…CNN / Time
Gingrich 33%
Romney 20%
Paul 17%

New Hampshire…NBC / Marist

Romney 39%
Gingrich 23%
Paul 16%

New Hampshire…CNN / Time

Romney 35%
Gingrich 26%
Paul 17%

Gingrich has huge, 20-point plus leads in South Carolina and Florida, the other of the first four primary/caucus states.

National…Gallup Daily Tracking Poll

Gingrich 37%
Romney 22%

--Republican pollster Frank Luntz on Newt Gingrich: “He’s thought about everything, he’s considered everything, he has an opinion about everything…85% of the time that’s a good thing, 15% of the time it’s not.”

--New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was stumping for Mitt Romney in Iowa and was met by about 20 protesters, who interrupted his speech for several minutes, chanting, among other things, “Make Wall Street pay!”

To which Christie responded:

“You’re so angry, aren’t you? Work it all out.” Christie then blasted Obama. “They represent an anger in our country that Barack Obama has caused. Because he is a typical, cynical Chicago ward politician who runs for office and promises everything and then comes to office and disappoints.”
And:

“For the last three years, we’ve had a president who doesn’t know how to lead, doesn’t know who he is, won’t fight for what he believes in and will not – will not – make America greater. In fact, he has made America smaller in the eyes of the rest of the world.”

Ah yes, Christie will be the Republican’s best attack dog. He’d be the perfect running mate for Romney.

--As for President Obama, he gave a long-planned speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, that outlined his populist theme for 2012, part of which is why I said long before everyone else that next year’s campaign is going to be comparable to 1860. Obama in part proclaimed:

“This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement….

“The free market has never been a license to take whatever you can from whomever you can….

“Their philosophy is simple. We are better off when everybody is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules….

“Millions of working families in this country…are now forced to take their children to food banks for a decent meal.”

As the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger opined:

“Mr. Obama says everyone has to play by his new rules: ‘Unless you’re a financial institution whose business model is built on breaking the law, cheating consumers and making risky bets that could damage the entire economy, you should have nothing to fear from these new rules.’ Really? Citigroup on Thursday said it will eliminate 4,500 jobs. In the third quarter alone, 2,500 U.S. banks cut 20,332 jobs. Let ‘em go. In the coming Obama economy, they can ‘make wind turbines and…high-powered batteries.’”

But I would be intellectually dishonest myself if I didn’t acknowledge that income disparity is indeed an issue, as outlined in this space over the years; such as comparisons on CEO pay vs. the average worker today vs. 30 years ago. Yet, it’s also an issue throughout the developed world.

As the Washington Post editorialized, Obama’s policy prescriptions “don’t match the gravity of the problems he describes. In addition, to the extent he finds villains in American corporate greed or weak regulation, he misses the (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s) point that the phenomenon, fueled in large measure by globalization and new technology, transcends borders and political systems.”

And then the Post nailed it:

“Of most concern is what the president omitted or played down. He made glancing reference to the need to ‘get our fiscal house in order’ and immediately pivoted to the imperative of extending the payroll tax holiday. The economic growth that will be essential cannot happen with the dampening overhang of ever-mounting debt. Nor can the spending Mr. Obama rightly prescribes for education, research and infrastructure.”

--I was watching CNBC and two business titans, Richard LeFrak and Wilbur Ross, were talking about how the “future is brighter than the past.” Oh, give me a break. Just look at the above paragraph, or the Europe discussion of the last 19 months.

--Donald Trump on Karl Rove: “Rove gave us George W. Bush, who crashed and burned, and because of Bush we have Barack Obama.” Advantage Trump.

--George Will on Herman Cain: “He had a fundamentally disrespectful approach to the presidency.” Other than that, good riddance, Herman Cain.

--New York lawmakers unanimously passed Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tax package which would raise billions in additional revenues from wealthier residents, while aiding the middle-class, a bit.

So how did Cuomo get Republicans to go along? Jacob Gershman of the Wall Street Journal explains.

“(For) antitax Senate Republicans, all 32 of whom voted for the tax package, the measure represented a turnaround on tax policy that required some delicate explaining.

“On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos – a Long Island Republican who in May called an expiring personal income tax increase on the wealthy ‘dead’ – framed the action as a tax cut….

“ ‘We’re cutting taxes, in my opinion,’ Mr. Skelos said, alluding to the fact that even those earning $2 million or more will see their tax rate fall to 8.82% from 8.97%. That’s still nearly two percentage points more than the 6.85% they paid before the temporary tax increase, the so-called millionaire’s tax, passed in 2009….

“(Framing) the tax code changes as a tax break had Republicans sounding much like their political opponents who favor higher taxes for the rich.”

--Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption, or basically the 15 to 20 years prosecutors sought. Plus under federal rules, he’ll have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence. Heh heh.

--I glance at my site traffic just every 4-6 months, because, frankly, it doesn’t change, which isn’t great but since I’m doing zero advertising these days, isn’t all bad either. But I’m always curious as to traffic outside the U.S. (about 20% of the total) and the nation giving me the second most hits is India, followed by New Zealand, Canada and Pakistan. I love you, my Pakistani fans! [Assuming they aren’t with the ISI.]

--So now we know there is a planet out there, a new discovery called Kepler-22b, where the average temperature is said to be 72 degrees. Then again, scientists don’t know as yet whether the planet has a surface, so don’t go booking trips to Kepler through Expedia just yet. It could just be a big gas bag like Neptune. Plus its 600 light years away, or 600 Xs 6 trillion miles, which isn’t exactly convenient in terms of coordinating everyone’s vacation schedules.

--Uh oh…From Marthe Fourcade of Bloomberg:

“Marathon runners and others engaging in extreme endurance exercise may temporarily damage the right ventricle of their hearts, researchers found.

“The impact on the ventricle…was reversed after a week in most of the 40 athletes who took part in a study published in the European Heart Journal. Five of them showed more lasting damage.”

Good thing I’m just running a half today. It was here in Kiawah, two years ago, that I was witness to a death near the finish line, a 40-year-old seemingly in good shape.

--The Washington Post reported that “The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill, far more than the military had acknowledged [Ed. per a previous Post story], before halting the secretive practice three years ago, records show.

“The landfill dumping was concealed from families who had authorized the military to dispose of the remains in a dignified and respectful manner, Air Force officials said. There are no plans, they said, to alert those families now….

“Records show that the Air Force hired [private] contractors to dispose of medical waste and did not specify that cremated body parts were included.”
--Finally, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day was a bit more touching, this 70th anniversary, than some others due to the fact that the Veterans organization for the survivors is being disbanded because so few are left.

But as the New York Post editorialized:

“This time, America understood and embraced its responsibilities. Despite occasional foot-dragging, it lived up to them – providing good example and necessary stability to the world in the process.

“Whether the nation retains the will to look after its interests properly is an open question. There is cause for concern.

“But on Dec. 7, 1941 – ‘a date which will live in infamy’ – all doubts were dispelled.

“History knocked. America answered.”

I also can’t help but muse that with so few survivors of World War II remaining, I wonder how many of them think of a certain song that was popular back in the day as they sit on the porch, staring at the horizon, thinking of times past, friends lost. That haunting Vera Lynn song from 1943 that I myself think of anytime I see a World War II remembrance.

We’ll meet again
Don’t know where, don’t know when
But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day

---

Pray for the men and women of our armed forces…and all the fallen.

God bless America.

---

Gold closed at $1716
Oil, $99.41

Returns for the week 12/5-12/9

Dow Jones +1.4% [12184]
S&P 500 +0.9% [1255]
S&P MidCap +0.5%
Russell 2000 +1.4%
Nasdaq +0.8% [2646]

Returns for the period 1/1/11-12/9/11

Dow Jones +5.2%
S&P 500 -0.2%
S&P MidCap -2.4%
Russell 2000 -4.9%
Nasdaq -0.2%

Bulls 47.4
Bears 29.5 [Source: Chartcraft / Investors Intelligence]