iowa caucus of horrors
by Mark Hunter Mulvey
Published: January 7, 2008
“Wall Street gave a passing glance on Friday to the U.S. presidential election kickoff in Iowa, and didn’t particularly like what it saw from Republican winner Mike Huckabee or top Democrat Barack Obama.” - Reuters, Friday, January 4th 2007
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The personification of a street is the first sign of lunacy.
The second sign is describing the street’s opinions.
The third sign is embodied by Charles Biderman, the chief exec of an investment research firm: “The scary thing about it for me is that [Republican caucus winner in Iowa, Mike Huckabee] seems like a right-wing populist… I’m not sure what his economic platform is and who his economic supporters (are).”
Take note: when it is your job to predict market behavior, you are terrified by Iowa caucus victories. This is what scares you. You can remain complacent in the face of global terror and the innumerable horrors already occurring, but the possibility of an economic reaction to presidential candidates not yet elected will chill your soul.
You see, as the Reuters piece elegantly points out, “Financial markets typically feel more comfortable with Republicans in power because they are generally more friendly to business on such issues as taxes and regulation. Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor, doesn’t fit that mold.”
Markets that feel. New York City streets giving “passing glances” at polls in the midwest. Be on the lookout for dangling participles “suggesting hesitantly” in this Lewis Carroll fantasy called American Politics.
The nut of what’s happening here is this: American obsession over money, enabled by a free market economy, is shifting priorities to the irrelevant and the uncontrollable. Capitalist dreams and entrepreneurial spirits are what made this country the great home of the Self-Made (Wo)Man, but it is also giving birth to these opportunistic hacks who profit from trends and predictions, not actual results. When your life is consumed by what might happen, it paralyzes you in the face of Now. Let Biderman’s outspoken priorities be a warning sign for all Americans.
The ability to see a storm in the breath of a butterfly’s wing can certainly make you rich, but the life leading up to that storm is left vapid. I will never buy a beer for a man who is scared by money.
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