Yeah, that's what I gathered also, but I just can't help but think that the "Let's hold the economy hostage" politics might have had something to do with it as well.
Stock moved violently throughout Friday's session, the Dow swinging more than 400 points in the session, as investors weighed a strong U.S. jobs report and a step towards resolving Europe's escalating debt problems.
So, yeah. Basically the market got almost all of the losses back today.
I don't think either side in this debate has a real idea of how to improve the economy because they're all focusing on taxes and spending. I don't think (or at least I haven't seen) anything regarding what to do with millions of workers who were laid off during this recession only to find out that their jobs weren't really needed in the first place after many companies automated and replaced them with better processes, better workers, outsourcing, etc.
Personally, I believe that with the globalization of business, this was inevitable. The recession came around and forced businesses to do more with less. They ultimately found out that they could. And what they couldn't, they could farm out to some other country for far less in wages and benefits. The massive unemployment we're seeing now is the end result of years and years of globalization, and the recession gave a lot of companies the excuse they were looking for to eliminate millions of jobs because these people simply weren't needed any longer, and cutting tens of thousands of jobs under the guise of the recession isn't really bad PR like it would be to simply cut them off when the economy is going well.
This may be an incorrect belief, but I think the only way the US can get out of this unemployment funk is to have another New Deal type piece of legislature that would actually put people to work for the government rebuilding our infrastructure and building things like high speed rail, etc., but with the current environment, that's not going to happen. Or we find a way for foreign businesses to invest in building goods and services in America and using our workers to do it. However, I don't really see that as a truly viable option either because no one wants to pay an entitled American who thinks everyone, even those without education or 21st century job skills, to have the American Dream when you can have a Chinese or Indian worker doing the same or more for much, much less.
We're heading into a brave new world here, and I don't think Washington is debating the right topics when it comes to the economy. At some point, we're going to need to put some of the blame at the feet of the American worker for not preparing themselves for the new global marketplace, and we can probably blame the government somewhat for not being honest with people about that reality.
So, I don't lay the current problems at the feet of the Democrats or Republicans. I just blame them on our culture of entitlement and our government's inability to stare the voter in the face and say that they just aren't as attractive as a worker somewhere else who is willing to work more for less.
